Irregular Apex: Chaos Incarnate
by Second Gen Chaos
Summary: 300 years have passed since the Neo-Arcadia wars, and the end of the robot rebellions is coming faster than X or Zero know. The only question is: the end of the Mavericks? Or the end of them? Is a simple review 2 much 2 ask? I want feedback! Anything!
1. The Mysterious Hunter Is Complete

Prologue:

In the year 20XX, Dr. Thomas Light's robotic prowess was well-known. Along with his research partner Dr. Albert Wily, the two created the plans for a new neuro-net to use in their robots. This net would act similarly to a human brain, enabling better control over the machines. This system was implemented in Proto, a creation that resulted after Wily's usage of the neuro-net to manipulate robots to his evil ways. Dr. Light wasn't going to let Proto fight Wily, but the young robot had problems with authority and was easily coerced by Wily to join him. However, after Wily double-crossed Proto, he took a different stance-as a vigilant protector of Dr. Light's subsequent creation, Rock. Like Proto, Rock wasn't designed to fight, but after Wily began unleashing his robotic evils on the world, he convinced Dr. Light to allow him to. He underwent structural manipulation and thus was born the hero of the Robot Rebellions. 

Eight times Dr. Wily attempted to achieve world domination through brilliant(yet very predictable) orchestrated plans, even after being jailed and escaping twice. The constant interference of Rock and Proto and the belligerent, rebellious attitude of his most advanced creation, Bass, caused him to sink deeper into his own insanity, and one day found a blueprint for Dr. Light's experimental Neuro-net X, an even more advanced brain system that would allow whole artificial intelligence. Using the blueprints, Wily fashioned his own robot, with some adjustments based on the systems he'd used in Bass, to create Zero, a machine capable of mass destruction. He planned to release the robot to destroy Rock, Proto, and Bass, and then conquer the Earth as he was destined...

20XX...

Part I: The Mysterious Hunter Is Complete

"Ha, ha. It is almost complete. Just one more...there!" Dr. Wily said to himself, leaning over the table he was using to weld together the last pieces of his newest creation's neural net. The sparks from the lighttorch had just clicked the final part of the robot into place-the activation circuit was complete.

Standing erect once more, Wily looked down at his masterpiece. It was about a foot taller than Bass, reaching a height of almost 6'3. Its red armor glowed under the bright light from the laboratory, and its green chest nodes refracted a prism of color on the walls of the building. It had a super-powerful drive system and weapons array, and most importantly the Terria net-analogous to Dr. Light's Neuro-net X, the Terria net not only applied individual thought to the robot, whom he had dubbed Zero, but also allowed ultrafast accuracy calculations and control of its highly unpredictable weapons systems. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the Terria net, Wily could not pre-program Zero. He would have to use a program injection after he activated the machine. He was about to do so when he heard a knock on the door.

"And vat could dat be?" he muttered to himself, thick German accent resonating throughout the chamber. Walking to the door, he realized the noise had come from the table. But when he turned back around to check on Zero, a glass pane high in the rafters of the laboratory shattered, raining shards on the ground below. When he looked up, he got an unwelcome surprise.

"And vat is-" he began, before getting pelted with a hailstone the size of a baseball. "Stupid wetter."

What Wily didn't notice was Rock's pet bird, Beat, fly in through the hole in the glass and land on a nearby crossbeam. He had been equipped with a reconnaissance net so he could spy on Wily, but these last few months he couldn't find a way to get into the lab. Aiming the camera on the table Wily had walked back to, Beat began scanning the robot lying there. After a few minutes, he stopped.

That's not good, he thought. The shrill voice that Dr. Cossack had designed him with prohibited him from making much noise, and took caution to monitor this red robot of Wily's.

Wily had resumed his post at the table beside Zero, opening the chest plate of the robot and tripping the activation circuit. Closing the plate, Wily stepped back as Zero's eyes began to glow bright red, a shade deeper than its armor. After a few seconds, the eyes of the robot became white with blue irises. Its arms began to move slowly, mechanical systems adjusting to the environment. After several more seconds, it sat up and looked around, finally resting its gaze on Wily.

"Who are you?" the robot asked, with a distinctly male voice.

"I am your creator. My name is Dr. Wily."

Zero looked at Wily skeptically. There was something fundamentally wrong with this person. Maybe it was his wild hair(it did have a kind of mad scientist look to it), or that suspicious gleam in his eyes. Whatever it was, Zero didn't trust it. He looked around the lab, trying to find other robots.

"If you're a robot designer, where are all the other robots?"

Wily stuttered. "They aren't here. They're all in the city."

_That's weird_, Zero thought, quickly scanning the computers behind Wily. The things on it confirmed what he had thought. Centered in the aerial photograph on the screen was the research laboratory of another scientist, and nearby, the city hall. There were red lines running in and out of these structures, like attack and retreat directions. Finally, the words '12:34 P.M.-Plan Complete' caught the red robot's gaze and he realized what Wily counted on doing. He was going to raid that scientist's laboratory and then take down city hall by some means. But what could he be taking...?

When Zero wasn't looking at Wily, the scientist had grabbed a small instrument from the work tray next to him. He had installed the override program in it, and shakily aimed it at his creation.

"Hey, what are you doing with that-" Zero began, only to be cut off by a high-frequency electronic pulse that immobilized him and made him sink into a trance-like state.

Wily put the device back down. It was now time to give Zero his orders.

"You will attack Dr. Light's laboratory," he said, pointing to the building in the middle of the screen. And you will destroy him. He is my nemesis. You will destroy his robots, his plans you will take back to me, and then you will invade city hall. Take the officials captive and make them hand over control to me."

"I am here to serve you, master," Zero replied, in a ghostly monotone. "I will do as you wish."

"Very good, Zero," Wily answered, "very good."

Beat's eyes grew wide as saucers when he saw what Wily had done. That robot didn't trust the evil doctor, but then the whacked-out madman had used some sort of neuralizer to make him into a big metal puppet. And with the plans Wily had and the ammunition that robot was packing, nothing, not even Rock, could stop him. He had to tell Dr. Light immediately. Taking off through the shattered glass pane, Beat struggled to fly under the torrents of rain to get back to his home.


	2. Touché, Mon Ami

Part II: Touché, Mon Ami  
Dr. Light completed working on his latest robotic creation, a robot with the power of individual thought(thanks to his Neuro-net X Second Grade, a minor improvement over the first model, integrating enormous mental capacity with tremendous harnessing ability), when Beat flew back into the lab. The little bird-bot looked slightly drained, and from the weather conditions outside it was obvious why. It also looked like there was something important to be said.  
"What is it, Beat?" Light asked, wiping his hands of the oil and grease he'd used to affix the last pieces of the defense blaster onto the robot on the table.  
"Wily...red robot...too strong..." Beat struggled, out of breath.  
Fliptop, Dr. Light's transport robot and companion of all the lab robots, hopped up onto the table beside Beat.  
"Here, Dr. Light," he said in his slightly off-pitch voice, opening his distribution lid and ejecting an Energy Boost canister.  
"Thank you, Fliptop," Light replied, taking the canister and giving it to Beat to drink. In a few moments, the bird's fatigue was gone. "Now what was it you wanted to tell me, Beat?"  
Fluttering over to the nearest computer, Beat used an in-built a/v wire to connect himself to Dr. Light's main computer terminal. Instantly, a schematic of a robot appeared on the screen, along with color photos from within Wily's lab.  
"Wily built some sort of powerful new robot, and plans on making it destroy us and then go after the city!"  
"I'm sure Rock can handle him, Beat," Dr. Light said, patting the little bird on the back.  
"You don't understand, Dr. Light," Beat rebutted. "Look at this."  
The schematic zoomed in on two portions, the brain network and the weapons systems. Dr. Light looked to the screen, and nearly had a heart attack from the data he saw.  
"What has Wily done? This looks almost exactly like the Neuro-net X design," he said, pointing to the brain. "and this appears to outgun any defense system that I have designed for this city. Not even Rock has that much power."  
Beat looked up at the doctor. "Is there anything we can do?"  
"I don't know, Beat."  
"Well, I don't think this robot is all bad."  
Dr. Light glanced at him. "What?"  
Beat had disconnected himself from the terminal. "When the robot woke up, he appeared to not trust Wily. But then Wily took some sort of neuralizer and turned him into a pawn."  
"Very interesting. If that's the case, maybe we can play on a morality card."  
"I don't know, Dr. Light," a voice said from behind him. Turning, Light was greeted by Proto, having just returned from a survey of the city block that he suspected Bass and his robotic dog Treble might choose to attack. Rock, Rush, Roll, and Tango were still there, waiting to fight them off.  
"Why is that, Proto?"  
"Simple," the red robot said, crossing his arms. "Wily used one of those things on me. If he used it on this bot, most likely he won't be able to control himself, either. He'll do whatever he's told, until the effect wears off."  
"How long does it take to wear off?"  
"It depends. The more it's used, the shorter amount of time it takes to wear off. Eventually a bot grows so used to it that it doesn't faze 'em anymore."  
"I see. That makes this a difficult situation. Beat, did the robot leave before you left?"  
Beat shook his feathered head. "No, Dr. Light, I didn't see him leave. But I've got wings."  
He fluttered his wings a little, enforcing the fact that he could travel a greater distance in a shorter amount of time than a robot on foot.  
"This is not good. Well, in any matter, Proto, take Beat and go back to where Rock and Roll are and wait for Bass and Treble to arrive."  
"But won't you need help here, Dr. Light?" Proto asked, eyebrows rising underneath the dark visor that covered the upper half of his face.  
"No, Proto, I won't. I have a plan of my own. I'll be fine."  
Waiting until the two left, Dr. Light looked back to Fliptop.  
"Fliptop, I want you to follow them. They may need some help."  
"Alright, Dr. Light," the squatty machine replied, jumping down off the computer terminal and running after Proto and Beat.  
Now, down to business.  
  
"I don't think they're coming, Rock," Roll said, crossing her arms. They had been waiting for most of that day for Bass and Treble to attack a residential center near city hall.  
"They're coming, sis. I can feel it," Rock answered, once again scanning over the street.  
"But this is crazy. Why would they attack such a place? There's no raw materials for them to steal."  
"Because they are sick pieces of scrap metal that would do anything for a cheap thrill."  
"That's true, Rock, but don't you think they would have attacked us by now?"  
Proto and Beat had just arrived, followed closely by Fliptop. Beat took a perch on top of a nearby flagpole, surveying the skies for a pair of robots prepared to wreak havoc, but for Wily's red monstrosity as well. He felt really uneasy about this whole situation. It seemed so very weird.  
"You should listen to your sister, do-gooder," a venomous, sarcastic voice resonated from a nearby alley, followed by a deep lupine growl. Bass and Treble emerged from the shadows, already brandishing the heavy artillery Wily had equipped them both with. "It might do you some good."  
"Shut up, Bass. Why must we keep fighting like this?"  
"You really must be an idiot, you know that, Rock?" Bass replied, putting one foot on a nearby piece of debris and leaning over his leg in a reclining position. "Why would I want to be just like you dorks? You know I wasn't designed for that kind of stuff."  
"Your heart is just as black as your armor," Roll yelled, Tango hiding herself behind her master's leg. Treble was eyeing the feline robot, salivating all the while.  
Bass put one hand on the blue chest node where a heart would be, if robots had blood-pumping organs(or a circulatory system in any way comparable to a human's, for that matter).  
"Oh, I'm hurt. I'm going to run away and cry. Boo hoo hoo," he mocked, pretending to rub the non-existent tears from his eyes on the last comment. After straightening back up and regaining his posture, he narrowed his eyes and glared at Rock.  
"Sic 'em, Treble."  
  
The wall of Dr. Light's laboratory was buckling under the intense heat from outside. Shortly after Proto, Beat, and Fliptop exited the building, a large energy signature was detected just beyond the block the lab was on. The good doctor knew that it was Wily's red robot. By this time, the robot had arrived, and was in the process of entering the lab by knocking down a wall. Dr. Light had to move quickly to stop this onslaught.  
Suddenly, a whine that could only be emitted from a high-powered energy weapon emanated from beyond the wall. In a matter of seconds, a blade of pure plasma pushed through the foot-thick metal, only to be stopped by the defense systems within the lab. Again, the energy whine came from behind the structure, but seemed as though it was charging. Dr. Light took shelter against a nearby terminal.  
In a huge explosion of shrapnel and smoke, the wall was blown apart, dust flying through the lab as though a nuclear bomb had been set off. The red robot strolled in, surrounded by smoke. It's armor didn't have Wily's insignia on it, which was a little strange, but that small fact was not important at the moment. The eyes of the robot scanned around the room, finally resting on Light.  
"Dr. Light. I have been ordered to destroy you."  
Light emerged from the terminal. "Who are you?"  
"My name is Zero. I have been programmed to destroy you."  
Aiming his blaster at Light, Zero began charging the weapon to full power. Suddenly, he stopped, grasping the sides of his head as though he was in pain. The characteristic W symbol of all Wily's robots appeared underneath the blue crystal on his helmet. Dr. Light was in awe.  
Looking back up, Zero took notice of the blue robot lying on the table. It was nearly the same height and structure as himself, but hadn't been activated yet.  
"Who...is that?" Zero asked, pain surging through his body. He no longer had the dull monotone voice that he'd possessed earlier. Dr. Light could tell that the program Wily had used was malfunctioning, and that Zero was not under its influence at the moment.  
"His name is X," Light said. "Your brain system is based on his. Wily took the design and modified it for his own purposes."  
In a flash, Zero straightened again, and once more began aiming for something. Dr. Light realized it was X he was going to direct the blast at. Quickly grabbing the activation controls, Light switched X's central processor on. The robot's eyes began to glow, subsiding into their normal green color. He sat up.  
"Dr. Light," he began. "What's going on?"  
Light pointed to Zero. "Defend yourself!"  
X looked to where Light was pointing. Sure enough, there was a robot standing there, charging some sort of arm cannon. He crossed his arms in front of him as a pure blast of plasma shot from the robot's arm into him, flinging the blue robot against the nearby terminals.  
Light knew X was probably badly damaged from the blast, and didn't know how to stop Zero from his rampage. The red hunter turned back to Light, raising his cannon again. Just as the doctor thought for sure that he was done for, a massive energy surge erupted from his peripheral vision and knocked Zero away.  
Spinning around to see the source of the plasma blast, Light was ecstatic to see X, barely harmed, standing there with his X-Buster smoldering from heat. Walking toward his creator, X carefully monitored Zero, still trying to recuperate from the impact.  
"Don't worry, Dr. Light, I'll protect you."  
Shielding Light with his body, X held his arm cannon out, pointed at Zero. As the red robot got up, he took out a small device that he had pulled from a back sheath. X could see it was a handle to something, but what...  
Zero lunged forward, activating the energy blade and bringing it down over his head in a suicide downslash. X held his X-Buster above his head to block Zero's attack, and at least succeeded in holding the blade of energy away from him. The pressure that Zero was exerting on the blade, and therefore, X's arm, was incredible. The blue robot had a hard time countering it. Finally, X deflected the blade to the side in one swift movement, and followed it by a deft kick to the side of Zero's head. The red robot tumbled back, blade extinguished, to land on the lab floor, dazed. X raised his blaster at Zero.  
"Desist."  
"Never," Zero responded, quickly bringing his own blaster up and firing a blast at X. It missed by about five feet, and Dr. Light's creation couldn't understand what was going on.  
"Why did you do that? Is your aim that off?"  
"Nope. I hit exactly what I needed to."  
Light and X looked back, to where Zero was directing his gaze. A terminal had been completely destroyed. Light's face was in shock.  
"No! Not the gravitational accelerator unit!" he cried, as a large vacuum began pulling everything in the room toward the terminal. X grabbed hold of Light, using his magnetic boots to keep himself attached to the floor. Unfortunately, however, the pull was too strong-X's grasp slipped.  
"Dr. Light! No!" X screamed, as the doctor was pulled into the energy unit at the center of the hole in the computer. All that was left of him was a pile of dust. The vacuum subsided as the self-deactivation equipment in the accelerator unit kicked in. X looked back to Zero.  
"You killed him!"  
Zero laughed. "And that's about to happen to you, too."  
X charged up his X-Buster, making sure it was at full magnification. The force of this blast would be so great it could destroy armor plating.  
"Leave us alone!" X screamed, firing the cannon at Zero. The immense wave of plasma energy connected with the red robot, burning him severely. He looked down at his blackened armor.  
"I'll deal with you later," he replied, pointing a single finger at X. He turned and ran out the hole in the wall. X was left there, blaster smoking, with the lab in ruins. 


	3. The Hand That Feeds...

Part III: The Hand That Feeds...  
Bass flung another kick in Rock's direction, attempting to crack the blue robot's helmet, while Treble had pinned Roll to the ground and was trying to maul her face. Proto and Rush were trying to fight Bass off, and Tango was vainly striving to get Treble's attention away from Roll. Fliptop, meanwhile, had sought shelter behind a wall of concrete debris.  
Flying high above the battlefield, Beat spotted Bass picking up a large metal rod which he planned to connect with the side of Rock's head. Going into a dive, the bird was able to pick up enough speed to break the sound barrier, flying close enough to Bass to emit a sonic boom with sufficient power to blast the rod to bits.  
Jumping back as the rod shattered, Bass threw a series of profanities at the little robot, using his spray blaster to shoot Beat from the air. Just about the time that he was going to fricassee Rock's pet, Bass' arm was thrown off direction by an impact from a distinctive red shield. Turning to the side, he saw Proto, boomerang shield in hand, reconnecting the plate to his back.  
"I won't let you get the turkey that easy," he said, smirk crossing his visored face. Bass put on an annoyed facade.  
"What was the reason you went back to Light? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the perks."  
"Why don't you shut your fat trap and fight!?" Proto yelled, leaping forward and firing off several shots with his arm cannon, striking Bass a few times in the chest.  
"But insulting you's just so fun!" Bass whined, mocking him. "Yo! Treble! Red here wants a real fight! Let's give it to 'em!"  
Rock and Proto's eyes went wide when Bass said that. Like Dr. Light's meld function between Rock and Rush, Bass and Treble had been equipped with a related capacity. The only difference, however, was that hardly any damage could be dealt the joint robot and it could unfairly project massive quantities on its opponents.  
Leaping off Roll, Treble began bounding at Bass, metal plating beginning to separate. Light glowed from beneath the panels, exposing the wolf-like machine's internal generator.  
"You've gotta stop him, guys!" Roll yelled, picking up a nearby piece of scrap metal and hurling it at Treble. The robot just kept running, unfazed.  
"That's it, Treble. That's it," Bass said, armor glowing an equally eerie color. "Come to Papa."  
"You sound like you're throwing craps in Vegas," Proto sneered, attempting to draw Bass' attention away from the mergeance. It didn't work.  
Treble, completely engulfed with light, jumped and collided with Bass, disappearing into the black exterior of Bass' armor. Instantly, purple wings and huge amounts of energy emerged from the menace, along with purple bounding armor keeping the two completely together.  
"Let's see you try and stop me now, Rock?" Bass challenged. "Or are you and Proto to chicken. Bokaw."  
"Are you trying to get on my bad side Bass?" Rock replied, feigning posture.  
"Bokaw. Bokaw," Bass continued, now flapping his arms to his sides, imitating a chicken.  
Proto looked at Rock. "You know he's only doing that to get you mad at him, Rock. Why else would he do it?"  
"Bokaw! Bokaw!" He was getting louder.  
"Would somebody please shut him up?" Proto exasperated, turning once more in Bass' direction.  
"That's it! I'm going in!" Rock yelled, plowing forward full speed. Not exactly expecting such an attack, Bass was caught off-guard when Rock tackled him to the ground.  
"Get off me! You know, I have my doubts about you, Rock."  
"Shut up!"  
"Then get offa me!"  
Sticking the edge of his blaster against Bass' side, Rock narrowed his eyes.  
"In one move, I can take that look right off your face," Bass said, having felt the nozzle on his waist and observing Rock's expression.  
"What?"  
"Simple, really. If you fire that thing, the energy's just gonna plow right back into you. Your hand'll be gone, and then you'll really be defenseless. It's just too bad we didn't have some touching 'You're not my father!' dialogue before you lose your precious arm cannon."  
Releasing Bass from the tackle, Rock aimed the cannon at the downed robot's face, point-blank.  
"You have three seconds to get up before I fire."  
Proto's eyes widened under his visor. Is he an idiot? You don't tell someone like Bass that! You don't even give him one second!  
"One..."  
"You don't have the heart, Rock."  
"Two..."  
"Now me, I have the bolts to do something like that, but you..."  
"Three!"  
"Don't!" Bass yelled, jumping into Rock's face and grabbing his helmet under the rim, bringing the blue defender's head down to collide with his black-armored knee. The dark-plated robot threw Rock aside, leaving him gasping for air like a fish while redirecting his gaze at Proto.  
"And now, as our hero falls defeated, will the evil Bass also do away with the rest of the Light gang? Join us next week, same bat time, same bat channel," Bass said, using a taunting announcer's voice. Then, sobering himself, he began a slow walk toward the red robot.  
  
"This is so goood! Light is gone! And soon, Bass and Rock will be too! Oh, and don't forget Proto, that double-crosser," Wily gleefully said to himself, clapping his hands like a seal and dancing around like a complete moron.  
Suddenly, the doors to the lab flew open and the silhouette of Zero appeared from the cold rain outside. Lightning crashed behind him, adding to the robot's already ominous mien as he strolled into the room.  
"So, did you get rid of Dr. Light for me?" Wily asked eagerly. "And what about Bass?"  
Zero looked in Wily's direction. "Dr. Light has been terminated. That is all."  
Wily became furious. "You were supposed to destroy all of them!"  
It was only then that Wily noticed the weird gleam coming from Zero's eyes. Of course, that was probably because it had just manifested itself there.  
Zero grasped either side of his head and began convulsing as though he were in pain.  
"You...you did this to me," he managed while looking up from his doubled-over position, voice back to normal. He raised his blaster.  
Wily held his hands up. "Remember Zero, I'm your creator. You can't kill me. You can't break the-"  
Wily was cut off as a single beam of energy lanced his chest. Looking up, he saw Zero's blaster glowing.  
"I will correct your mistake."  
Zero stood up straight, seemingly having regained his posture, although the program was not running anymore. Several more beams erupted from the robot's arm cannon, flying in slow motion through the air as Wily watched, coming inches closer every second, knowing that it was useless to fight now. The first one hit, plowing another deep hole in the chest of the scientist, and spilling blood and on the ground below. The second, third, fourth...then the tenth, eleventh, twelfth. Wily could barely hold himself against the table. He had one arm locked on the terminal, and the rest of his body was on the ground, holed like Swiss cheese. There was blood everywhere, but it wasn't really something that concerned him that much. One of his own creations had turned on him, and now he was dying. There was only one thing he could do...  
Slamming his hand down on a receptacle, Wily felt a surge of electricity flow through his body.  
"You will never get rid of me, Zero. I promise you that," Wily said, struggling to breathe.  
"Shut up," Zero replied, firing one last brutal shot to Wily's head. The lifeless corpse that was all that remained of Wily fell to the ground, never to hurt anyone again.  
Zero looked down at his creator, and at that moment, something happened within his brain. A small electric surge ran through him, making him feel infinitely powerful, but at the same time, reactivating the injected program. The only difference was that it had a slightly different agenda.  
Lightning flashed once more as the red hunter exited the laboratory. On the outside, he used his blaster to weld some graffiti into the side of the building: Dr. Albert Wily's secret laboratory. Just wait 'til you get a load of this!  
That's sufficient, I guess.  
Resuming his stride, the robot ran off into the night. 


	4. Gatorade, Some Chips, and One Red Super-...

Part IV: Gatorade, Some Chips, and One Red Super-Robot, If You Please or Would You Like Fries With That Plasma Burger?  
Bass finished mocking Proto when Beat swooped back down again and began pecking at his eyes.  
"I feel like I'm in an Alfred Hitchcock movie," Bass said, using one arm to shield his face while trying to bat Beat away with the other.  
Fliptop, having emerged from the concrete wall he was hiding behind, ran over to Rock on his stumpy little legs, dodging the occasional plasma shots Bass was directing at Beat. Rock was barely conscious, but able to see Fliptop through a little of a haze.  
"Huh? When did you get here?" he asked, blinking his eyes to clear them.  
"Just take this," Fliptop replied, ejecting an energy canister with a straw from his lid, making sure that Rock drank it.  
Fully restored, Rock stood back up again.  
"Thanks, Fliptop. Now get back to cover."  
Beat had somehow found a switch on Bass' neck and flipped it, throwing the robot into some sort of weird gyration involving swinging his hips around and doing numerous hand motions.  
"He's dancin'!" Roll yelled, laughter seeping into her voice.  
Rock and Proto tried to stop themselves from doing the same, until Beat spun around in mid-air and stared toward one direction in a look that displayed both concern and horror.  
"What is it, Beat?" Rock asked.  
"It's him," the frightened bird managed.  
"Who? Wily?"  
"No. Worse."  
Rock looked back at Proto. "Who could be worse than Wily?"  
"Beats me," Proto responded, shrugging.  
"He's way stronger than all of you. We're outgunned, and I don't think there's any hope for us now."  
"What? I can't pick up anything," Rock said, checking his antenna.  
"He's coming, though."  
"I think you're hallucinating, Beat."  
"He's right, Rock." It was Bass. He'd managed to turn his head to look at Rock. "Something's coming, and it's way stronger than any of us."  
"So what do you suppose we do?" Proto asked suspiciously, crossing his arms.  
"Hey, don't look at me," Bass replied. "I am the one standing here doing the Macarena."  
"The what?"  
"Oh never mind."  
Rock seemed to have an epiphany. "I have an idea. No, it's too crazy. Well, maybe..."  
"What is it?" Proto asked, slightly annoyed under the pressing circumstances.  
Rock faced Bass. "Bass, you have to help us. One of us can't take down that thing, but maybe all of us can."  
"Are you nuts!?" Proto and Roll yelled. Rush and Tango both stared at Rock like he'd lost his mind. It only became a priceless moment when Bass answered him.  
"Fine. But please flip that switch on the back of my neck. It's my coordination circuit."  
Beat flew back down and flipped the switch, returning Bass to normal. Proto and Roll looked at each other askance.  
"What caused this change of heart, Bass?" Roll asked, arms folded over her chest.  
"As much as I hate you guys, I do enjoy the thought of not being turned into scrap. And unfortunately, this seems to be the only way to prevent that from happening."  
"So we have your help then?" Rock said.  
"Yeah," Bass replied, then pointing a finger at him, continued, "but after we take care of this...this whatever it is, all bets are off."  
"Fine with me," Rock said, placing one hand on Bass' shoulder. The black robot looked at Rock quizzically.  
"Take that off of me before I blast it off."  
"Ok," Rock answered, drawing his hand away quickly.  
"Look, that stuff may fly with you guys, but I'm not exactly a touchy-feely sort of robot."  
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the street below them. Bass jumped behind Rock and used him as a shield.  
"Save me!" he yelled, holding Rock out.  
Rock turned his head. "I thought you said you weren't touchy-feely?"  
Straightening back up, Bass dusted himself off. "That's right. I'm not."  
  
Glancing around, X tried to find where Zero had gone. After the red robot had run out of Light's lab, X decided to follow him. In any case, he had to find him before he did more damage.  
A huge blast erupted from a concourse a couple blocks away. Using his scanning equipment, X took the measurements on the explosion. The source seemed to be Zero.  
Taking off at a run, X hurried to get there before it was too late.  
  
Rock stared down the road, trying to see through the smoke of the explosion. Bass and Proto were standing nearby, and Tango had decided to take shelter with Fliptop and Beat.  
"C'mon, Rush," Rock said. "We gotta be the absolute strongest we can to do this."  
Rush activated a program that was long overdue to be used again. During one of the early times Wily had tried taking the Earth, he had been programmed with a power suit adapter that would enhance Rock's strength and agility. It took a lot of energy to use, so they didn't really resort to activating it often.  
Joining with his master, Rush was absorbed into Rock in much the same way Treble had been absorbed by Bass. Rock's body instantly began to increase in size, but only went a small way before stopping. When the symbiosis was complete, Rock was a little taller, a little bit more armored, and infinitely more powerful.  
"Now let's see him take us on!" he yelled.  
Through the fog, a silhouette appeared, walking slowly toward the group. It's tall, slender frame showed it was designed from battle, and Rock could make out what could only be an arm cannon. Now that the robot was in range, he used a scan to assess this new threat. The blaster had 45 plasmatics in it-Rock's, Bass', and Proto's all had 2. The armor was made from an unknown alloy of titanium and another metal of some sort, but had an atomic structure unlike any he'd seen before.  
"Guys, maybe we are in a bit too deep."  
Proto and Bass exchanged glances that let Rock know that they had taken similar scans and knew what they were up against.  
The smoke had cleared, and now the mysterious robot was fully visible. His red armor reflected the luminescence from the explosion ghostily, and his green chest nodes appeared to be flashing the momentary bursts of light from the street torches. Fixed to his back was a saber that rivaled the blaster in strength, containing 44 plasmatics in its suspended energy generator.  
Rock stepped forward.  
"Who are you and what do you want?"  
The robot stopped, about ten yards from the group.  
"My name is Zero, and I've come to destroy you, if that's alright."  
"Well, I'd say that's not ok," Rock answered, aiming his blaster at the hunter. Firing a single blast, Rock waited from Bass and Proto to follow the shot up with their own, but got a surprise instead. The energy simply bounced off Zero's armor, hitting a nearby building and demolishing the concrete siding.  
"Here, let me show you what I mean," Zero said, raising his arm cannon. One plasma blast erupted from the machinery, vaporizing the street in front of Rock, leaving no debris whatsoever. Bass and Proto jumped to Rock's side.  
"C'mon. We gotta do something!" Bass yelled, beginning to fire his weapons at Zero. Proto and Rock did the same, but only found that the energy wasn't doing anything, just ricocheting off the red robot's armor and hitting the surrounding structures.  
Zero laughed. "You have no idea what you're up against, do you?"  
He unhooked the saber and held it out in front of him, pressing a single button. The energy generators inside it came to life, making a blade of pure ultra-powered plasma shoot from the handle. In one deft movement, Zero sped to the side, faster than Bass or Rock could believe, and performed a series of slices that could hardly be detected, and jumped out of the way. The concrete that Zero had been slicing at broke apart at lines that could only have been made by the saber.  
He held the blade out in front of him, pointing at Rock.  
"Let's see you do that!" he yelled, only to be stopped by a shout from a nearby rooftop.  
"I don't think so!" a voice screamed, followed by a blue robot, a foot taller than Rock, jumping off the building, raining plasma down on Zero.  
Bass and Rock stared in awe at the blue robot. His armor looked similar to Rock's, but was more angular. It was also made out of the same alloy that Zero's was made from. His blaster contained 47 plasmatics, enough to dwarf the entire world's armies dozens of times over.  
"Who are you?" Rock asked, pointing to the robot.  
He turned. "Oh, hi, Rock. It's me, X."  
X! That's impossible! Dr. Light wasn't even finished on him. How could he be active?  
"But...but..."  
"I know, Rock. Dr. Light finished me a few hours ago. Before this monster killed him."  
"Dr. Light is dead!?" Roll screamed, covering her mouth.  
"Unfortunately, yes. I saw Zero do it with my own eyes. I did all I could, but it wasn't enough."  
Zero smile maniacally.  
"You twit. I should finish you right now."  
"Alright, Zero. I guess it all comes down to this."  
Leaping forward, Zero used his saber to slash at X. Moving quickly, X dodged the attack, and followed it with a blast directly to Zero's chest. The red robot flew backward, armor cracking. X walked forward.  
"This is the last time you'll hurt someone."  
Zero looked around. There was one chance.  
Bass looked at Rock and Proto. "There's only one way we can hurt him. We've gotta join our blaster generators together."  
"I thought doing that could destroy us. You know, that whole 'don't cross the beams' and all..."  
"Do you have any better ideas?"  
"Nope."  
Holding their arm cannons out, the three robots formed an energy net between their generators. In one blast, they unleashed enough plasma to sear the street below them. Luckily, it caught Zero off guard, pummeling him into a nearby building.  
The energy net faded, and the three robots cannons returned to normal. Zero was hidden from sight in a gigantic hole in the side of the building, surrounded by debris. Getting back up, the damage he'd sustained was evident. His chest circuitry was exposed, armor having been blasted off, and was sparking. He held one hand to the injury.  
"You'll pay for that," he seethed, once again preparing himself for the maneuver he was about to perform before being so rudely interrupted.  
Leaping high in the air, Zero took his saber and slashed the nearest building. With his blaster, he used a fine laser-point emission to vaporize the street surrounding Rock, Bass, Proto, Roll, Tango, and Fliptop. Beat's wing was seared by the laser, so he was trapped in the circle too.  
X leapt backward as the street collapsed and the building's concrete fell on top of the group. The hole created was hundreds of stories deep, and the force of the impact would have killed all of them. Zero landed beyond the gap, smirking maliciously.  
"What goes around..." Zero began, firing one more blast at X. The speed was insane, and X had no chance of dodging it. The plasma hit, knocking him back against the street, unconscious. Zero, badly damaged, had to escape somehow. Taking off at high sprint, he left the city behind. 


	5. The Smoke Clears

Part V: The Smoke Clears  
Zero saw the cave ahead of him. It was nearly twenty yards from where he was standing. His legs had started giving out from the long trek to the mountains from the city with the damage he'd received two hours before.  
Sinking into a crawl, he dragged himself into the cave, going about five hundred yards into the interior before collapsing. Using his auto-repair program, he descended into unconsciousness.  
A mining operation had just finished working on the cave, but a mistake had been made when some of the bombs had been set. When they were set off, they caused a large cave-in, trapping Zero in the cavern, the length of time of which was anybody's guess.  
  
Awaking from his daze, X looked around. The street was in ruins, and there was a large hole in front of him.  
Whoa. I'd better get back to the lab.  
Getting up, he was able to make his way back to Dr. Light's decimated laboratory before sun-up. As he entered the building, X saw that there really was not much point in staying here, and turned back around to leave.  
"X, wait," a voice said from behind him. Turning around, a hologram of Dr. Light was beckoning him to come back into the lab.  
'Dr. Light? But you're dead,' was written across X's bewildered face.  
"I survived that little accident with Zero. I've been trapped inside the computer system, so I can't do much for you now. There is only one chance that you can survive without being persecuted. The authorities will most likely pin the damage on you because Zero escaped and the others were destroyed. Here, get inside this capsule. It will test your systems and repair you. You'll wake up in another world, one far removed from this one, since it takes so long to test you. You won't remember a thing from your experiences now because the capsule has to wipe your acquired memory clean to perform the tasks it needs to, which may be very beneficial to you."  
X looked at the open testing capsule. It was over forty-two feet in height, self-fastening, and opaque. Nobody who stumbled onto it could tell something was inside. He decided it was the best choice for him.  
"Alright, I'll get in. Are you sure it will delete all my memories of this time period?"  
Dr. Light nodded. "Yes, X, it will."  
"Good. I have no desire to remember what has happened."  
Settling inside the capsule, X was connected to hundreds of wires that induced deactivation and began checking his systems. The door to the capsule slid shut and locked itself electronically, sealing X inside for years to come... 


	6. Zero Lives!

21XX:  
One hundred years have passed since X and Zero have been deactivated. Dr. Light's command program still resides within the mechanical systems of his lab and the deepest layers of the subterranean portion of the city of Arcadia. X was found by archeologist Dr. Cain and reactivated in April, and by November, 'reploids' came into existence. These robots, based on Dr. Light's design notes for X, were actually translated into a new breed of machine that can think and make their own decisions, just as X could. However, these 'reploids' had a tendency to rebel against the society they were created in, becoming super-powered killing machines called Mavericks, and injuring many humans as a result. A group of Maverick Hunters was established to destroy any threat posed before anyone was hurt. Sigma, a very advanced reploid, was placed in control...  
  
Part VI: Zero Lives!  
Dr. Cain surveyed the land near the closed off mine shaft. This entire area was a labyrinth of caverns and underground rivers, with numerous mineral deposits and metal ores that had long since been exploited. His reasons for coming up to this forsaken piece of lost civilization were immediate-in conditions similar to the ones that he found X in, there could be other robots from the past, locked away in suspension, and able to give a first-hand source of history and other events that occurred years before the apocalyptic end to the Robot Wars of the last century. Dr. Light's other creations had been involved, and were assumed destroyed by some force, but that force was still unknown and Dr. Cain was determined to find it. Maybe if he could discover the forces that ended the Robot Wars, he could find the reason why reploids were going Maverick.  
Looking into the scan display, Cain found nothing. There were massive amounts of unrefined metal in those mines, having been restored after a botched environmentalist revival, but no sort of distinct arrangement that would signal a robot, save for the reploid bases located miles away.  
"Still nothing, Dr. Cain?" Sigma asked, eight foot stature shadowing the lanky scientist.  
"No, Sigma, there's nothing here."  
"Very well, Dr. Cain. May I take you back to your laboratory now?"  
"Yes, I suppose so."  
  
Deep within the caves, an ancient generator rumbled back to life. Electricity flowed through his circuits and wires, powering up the 47-grade plasma weapons array he was built with. A red glow emanated from his optical receptors, life restored to this once dilapidated robot. After his eyes returned to their white color, he stood up.  
"Where am I? Oh, wait. I remember."  
Unlatching the saber from his back, Zero sliced the rocks beside him, reopening the exit to the caved-in mine shaft. Walking out, he met he sun for the first time in one hundred years. It's glow shone off his now dull armor. The ore dust of the mine had settled on him, shielding him from any base scans. He detected a series of bases nearby, but it just so happened that they were subterranean.  
"Why do I have all the luck?" he asked himself, putting a single hand to his head, returning back into the caves.  
  
Two weeks later...  
  
"And now, as reports of the mysterious red Maverick of the caves pile up, it leaves citizens of this fine city wondering 'Is it going to come after us?' and 'What can we do?' The answer, my good people is-"  
Dr. Cain switched off the televideo set, looking down at his other creations from the balcony of his indoor laboratory. The lab had been turned into Maverick Hunter Headquarters, and X frequently chose to visit him there, although he himself had no desire to fight. Sigma had seen X's Maverick handling skills first-hand when a trusted member of the Hunters, a robot by the name of Guard, had turned and went on a spree. In a fatal move, Guard had attacked X, and in full self-defense, X was able to subdue his substantially weaker opponent by blasting him. The force of the explosion rocked the entire base and left Guard as nothing but pieces of nicely ground shrapnel. Sigma had suggested X join the Hunters, but the blue robot declined the offer. He wanted no part of it.  
Suddenly, an alarm blared over the loudspeakers. It was another attack.  
Dr. Cain looked to a subordinate reploid. "Where is it?"  
The robot's eyes widened. "It's in the caves!"  
Sigma stepped next to Dr. Cain. "Send Gamma. He's an excellent Hunter."  
"Yes. Gamma, assemble the 14th and go to the caves."  
The midnight blue robot walked past X on the way out, smirking pompously as he did so. The two bore quite a resemblance to each other. Because of that fact, Gamma had tried picking fights with X on several occasions, to no avail. X simply refused to fight(it was a moot point anyway, X had nearly twice the defense and firepower that Gamma had).  
X shook his head. That arrogance will get him killed.  
  
The South Base had been quiet for weeks. Sure, there were some mine detonations a couple days ago, but it was so uninteresting that Gamma didn't notice. His station was out at this base, only periodically reporting back to Dr. Cain. This time, however, it was different. This time, it was dangerous.  
A third set of explosions rattled the base. Numbers upon numbers of reploid parts flew through the air, oil leaking everywhere. Gamma caught one disemboweled reploid mostly intact, save for the large gash across his front. Whatever this thing was, it had a sharp object of some sort.  
Entering the base, hidden inside one of the caves in the outer regions of the desert beyond Arcadia, Gamma felt a blast of cold air rush past him.  
That's funny, he thought. It's never cold down here.  
A reploid scientist began bolting from the building. The 14th saw him, and was prepared to protect the researcher, but a second figure appeared behind him, shadowed from clear sight in the darkness of the hall. Gamma could tell one thing though-it had an arm cannon, raised and poised to fire.  
The scientist hit the ground feet from the 14th, smoking from plasma burns. The blast had plowed through his internal generator.  
"Show yourself!" Gamma yelled, readying himself for battle. Of course, the other reploids of the 14th jumped in front of him, trying in vain to protect the leader of their unit.  
The figure spoke. "Do you ready think you want me to? Are you that stupid?"  
"I will repeat myself as many times as I need. Now, show yourself!"  
The figure grabbed something from his back. As he withdrew it from a sheath of some kind, it erupted in a flash. It was a plasma saber. The light from the weapon threw an eerie glow on the armor of the Maverick, but it was red, that was for sure.  
Gamma swallowed hard. It was the one from the news reports. No reploid that had fought it had ever lived to tell.  
In one motion, the robot jumped from the shadows, throwing the saber like a boomerang, decapitating every reploid in the 14th, save for Gamma. The lifeless robots dropped to the ground, sparking heavily.  
"What are you going to do to me?" Gamma whimpered, as Zero approached him.  
"That's kind of a dumb question, isn't it?" the red Maverick sneered. "You're the leader of a unit, and you can't figure out what someone who just destroyed every soldier under you is planning to do next."  
Staring into Zero's remorseless eyes, Gamma became frozen in place. There was some sort of hypnotizing effect in those evil eyes, as if it were designed to immobilize enemies before it did away with them.  
Raising the saber high above his head, Zero plunged it straight down, piercing Gamma's chest and rushing through his circuitry until it erupted from the reploid's back. The scream was heard by no one, and Zero turned back to work, demolishing the base with his blaster, saber still lodged in Gamma's chest.  
  
Dr. Light, waiting around in the old circuit routines of the transportation capsule systems, began to sense that X, whom he'd been watching for quite some time now, would be forced to reveal his hand. That decision would be dire for the Mavericks whom X would be fighting against, but some of his internal body capabilities weren't up to par yet. Dr. Light knew that the Emergency Acceleration System, or Dash function, would be fully compatible with X's systems, and be permanently installed, but the other upgrades he'd prepared for the robot before the gravity chamber accident with Zero and some designed afterward he wasn't sure of. Another point was how he could get the upgrades to X.  
Wait, he thought to himself. These transport capsules can be modified to do that! Of course, just a few internal adjustments, and...there! Alright X, whenever you can find these capsules of mine, you'll find a piece of yourself.  
  
That Maverick is nearby. I can feel it..., Sigma thought, searching the warehouse/mine that he came to investigate. Some of the other reploids in the 17th had spotted him entering the cave and now Sigma had arrived to dispose of him. It was almost a month after Gamma and the entire 14th unit were obliterated, and he still held a grudge.  
Looking into the darkness, Sigma caught a glimpse of red armor, and moved in for the kill.  
  
A half an hour later, the doors to the warehouse opened again, startling the soldiers waiting outside.  
"Look! It's Commander Sigma!" the first said.  
"Incredible! Now I'm certain there is nothing that can defeat him," the second replied.  
"Wha..." they responded in unison, as Sigma's came into range, arm severed and half of his facial covering ripped from its place.  
"Take that red Maverick to the repair center, and call Dr. Cain," the commander struggled, breathless. "I wish to have that Maverick studied."  
As he passed the two soldiers, the first expressed his concern. "Commander, are you okay?"  
Sigma pushed him out of the way with his one remaining arm. "I'll live!"  
Continuing on his way, Sigma began to feel somewhat different, as if a new sense of reality was dawning inside of him.  
The two soldiers looked back at the cave in astonishment. 


	7. No Disassemble!

Part VII: No Disassemble!  
Dr. Cain looked in on the mysterious red robot in the repair center's response monitoring room. The circumstances were much worse now than when he was brought in. Sigma had gone Maverick, and left the Hunters defenseless. X still refused to fight, but seemed to be somewhat drawn to looking over the repairs to this former Maverick. A cerebral scan had revealed that the robot had a program injected into him by someone that Dr. Cain had no knowledge of, and that it had malfunctioned, fusing with his brain and making him highly dangerous. The program's purpose was unknown to Dr. Cain, but he had used a reverse engineering technique to remove it from the cortex. He didn't know whether the robot was still operable without it.  
"What do you think, Gate?" Cain asked, looking to the sixth-level reploid scientist.  
The purple robot shook his head. "I don't think he'll wake up. We should just use his parts for repairing other reploids."  
"You will not!"  
Looking back, Gate and Cain found X, arms crossed, glaring at the robot scientist. Gate had developed quite a distaste for X, a distaste that had grown into near hatred. The blue robot was just too naïve for his own good, and Gate knew that eventually it would lead to problems, but Light's 'magnificent creation' would never hear of it, due in part to Dr. Cain's urging, and the constant conflicts to his scientific theories on Maverick treatment were trying, at least.  
"X, he is braindead. There is no way that he can recover from this. We're doing what's best?"  
"How would you feel if you were in that position?" X retorted, having walked up to the two of them and looking out onto the red robot below.  
Gate's eyes rolled around. "That's insane, X. Reploid brains are designed to deactivate and acquire inbuilt programming from all remaining operating portions to allow enough strength and consciousness to be repaired. This never would happen."  
Cain stepped forward. "X doesn't want him cannibalized. The results will come back soon, and we can see whether his memory was completely erased."  
Gate stormed from the room, coat flying. One more loss at X's hands, and one more minute till I can exact revenge.  
  
Zero couldn't concentrate. He was lost in a maze of colors and circuitry that looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't tell where he'd seen it before. Looking around didn't help, since it was the same no matter which direction he turned.  
"Now how did I get here? Last thing I knew, that doctor with the weird hair was holding some sort of device at me, and now I'm here. Why?" he said to himself, trying to gain his senses. All of a sudden, there was a bright flash of light, and he was in a laboratory again.  
  
Dr. Cain and X were looking down on the robot when it opened its eyes. X jumped back, not expecting such a response, but quickly came back to continue the examination.  
The robot turned its head from side to side, then sat up, wires stringing from his chest and head. He pulled them off and looked at the scientist and robot in front of him. The blue one looked familiar.  
"Have I met you before?" he asked the robot, putting his helmet on. It was lying nearby.  
"No, not that I can remember," he said, holding his hand out. "I'm X."  
"Zero," the red robot replied, using X's handshake to pull himself off the exam table. "Where am I?"  
Dr. Cain stepped forward now. "You're inside Maverick Hunter Headquarters. My name is Dr. Cain."  
Zero put a hand to his chest, breathing a sigh of relief. "For a second there, I thought you were another doctor I knew, and that you'd just cut the wild hair off."  
Dr. Cain shook his head. "I'm sorry, Zero, I'm not. And I've always had short hair like this."  
Zero reached around his back for his saber, only to find it gone. "What..?"  
Cain and X's expressions turned quizzical. "What are you looking for?"  
"I had a sword. Where is it?"  
Cain shrugged. "We didn't find any saber when you were brought here. Maybe it's somewhere that you forgot it."  
"I wouldn't forget something like that. At least, I wouldn't think I would," Zero said, putting a hand to his forehead.  
"X, why don't you introduce the new leader of the Maverick Hunters to the rest of them."  
"Yes, Dr. Cain. This way, Zero."  
Following X out into the lobby, he began the life he was supposed to lead. 


	8. All’s Well That Ends...Oh, Never Mind

22XX:  
One hundred more years have passed since X and Zero first fought. After Zero was brought into the Maverick Hunters, X was finally convinced to fight when he witnessed a Maverick attacking defenseless humans. To save X from Vile, a former Hunter and subordinate of Sigma's rebellion, Zero sacrificed himself. His parts were later collected by the X-Hunters by Sigma's command, but X foiled their efforts to reassemble the crimson Hunter, allowing Dr. Cain to restore him and place him back at the head of the Maverick Hunters. The saber had been found, near Gamma's uninterred remains, and was given back to Zero. After the Repliforce incident, the Zero Virus invaded the ravaged Earth following the collision of the Eurasia space colony with the planet. Gate, finally infected by the Sigma Virus, the true cause for the Maverick uprisings, creates the Zero Nightmare and unleashes it on the Hunters. The scientist was cured of the virus and brought back to Maverick Hunter HQ, supposedly the last time the Sigma Virus ever appeared. Zero, concerned that his systems were unstable, opted to be sealed inside a capsule like X had, to be tested for internal malfunctions. When he emerged from containment, Zero noticed that his armor had been adapted by an unknown force, and that a government agency called Neo-Arcadia was trying to eradicate all reploids. He fought valiantly until he finally found X, infected by the long-dormant Sigma Virus during his battle with Gate, and then challenged his old friend to a duel. The two once again were locked in a state of mortal combat, good vs. evil, although the roles had been reversed...  
  
Part VIII: All's Well That Ends...Oh, Never Mind  
"Give up, X!" Zero yelled, Z-Saber straining under the pressure X was exerting. The virus had mutated X's external armor, and he had more covered patches than before.  
"Never! The reploids deserve to be destroyed! I won't compromise my beliefs!"  
"You've become just like Sigma, X! Don't you realize that!"  
Something seemed to snap in X's head, because a light began shining from his eyes as his body became limp. In the light, Zero could make out a silhouette of a robot, large and powerful, but not X. He realized that it was Sigma, inhabiting the body of his friend.  
"You'll never free X from my grasp, Zero. He's mine, now. And there's nothing you can do about it."  
"We'll see about that, Sigma!" Zero yelled, charging his saber with the anti-virus Dr. Doppler had installed all those years ago.  
"I'm sorry, X, but I have to do this," Zero said, before he pushed the saber into X's abdomen, spreading the anti-virus throughout his systems.  
Sigma laughed. "It's not that easy to get rid of me, Zero!"  
Exiting through X's eyes, Sigma took on a cloud-like form as he drifted away. Zero thought fast and threw a containment cylinder out below him, using the vacuum to trap the virus inside. It tried escaping, but the hatch was air-proof.  
Zero pulled the saber from X. The blue robot's armor degenerated back to the way it was in 21XX, long before Sigma had gotten a hold of him.  
"What happened to me?" he asked, holding the hole in his stomach as he sat up. He immediately noticed how different Zero looked. "Zero? What happened to you?"  
"It's a long story, X. But it's over now."  
Looking behind him, X saw Sigma's viral cloud, trapped in a vacuum case. "Is that Sigma? Did he infect me?"  
"Yeah, X, he did. You were acting crazy there for a second. I was the only one that could stop you."  
"Well," he said, observing the damage to his abdomen, "I'd better have a diagnostic check. Where's the nearest reploid repair center?"  
"X, you destroyed them all. But there is a repair chamber beneath the ruins of Maverick Hunter HQ. We can both go there and get what we need."  
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."  
Zero helped X stand up, supporting his friend as they made their way back to the buried suspended animation room at MHHQ. The diagnostics would take fifty years to complete, because the systems Dr. Cain had designed inspected each circuit of machinery. It wasn't something either of them feared. After all, it would give them both some well-needed rest time... 


	9. C’mon, People, As If You Can’t Tell What...

25XX:  
Three hundred years have gone by, civilizations resulting from the dissolution of Neo-Arcadia and the Golden Age of Reploids have come and gone, leaving many of the Earth's cities intact with an equal human-to-reploid population, but at peace at last. Deserts still cover much of the area surrounding the resurrected city of Neo-Arcadia, and most of the ancient ruins of the first incarnation of the city still remain buried in the sand, yet to be discovered.  
  
Part IX: C'mon, People, As If You Can't Tell What's Gonna Happen Next...  
"Blitz! Over here! I think I found something!"  
"What is it, Echo? What did you find?"  
"I dunno, but it's big!"  
Blitz walked over to where his partner was. The two reploid scavengers had been assigned to search this region of the desert, part of Arcadia's new founded effort to restore the city to its former glory. Twin robots, Blitz and Echo were part of a new generation of reploids containing an anti-Maverick chip that would deactivate any viral activity that may lead to aberrant behavior. Several new technologies also made their physical stamina, long-range sensor ability, and weapons potency greater than past robots.  
"Now where is it?" Blitz asked, staring at the dirt.  
"Right there," Echo replied, pointing her foot at a particular area in the sand. Blitz bent down and brushed some topsoil away. He felt metal underneath.  
"Well, there's something there alright," he said. "But how can we get to it? It looks solid."  
"Maybe we should find an entrance or something. Scans and maps keep showing a building here."  
"Okay. Where's the map?"  
Showing her brother the map, Echo looked back at the horizon. This was going to be a long day.  
  
Several miles from Blitz and Echo's positions, a team of scientists were examining a strange vial of energy. The purple cloud of plasma was swirling around in the capsule, occasionally reforming into some sort of face and then dissipating once more. It was quite unusual.  
The first scientist, a female reploid named Porter, picked up the case and ran a molecular scan on it. It didn't seem to be viral. A second robot took the container from Porter.  
"Why'd you do that?" she responded, taken aback by the apparent rudeness of her fellow scientist.  
"It's not safe to examine something this weird like that," he answered, placing the vial on a nearby piece of concrete sticking up out of the sand. "We should find something to house it in and take it back to the lab."  
"Fine, you can, but I'll stay here and take more soil samples."  
The other scientists put the small capsule in a containment vacuum seal and carried it back with them to the laboratory. Porter just sat down on the concrete slab and rested. She'd been working all day.  
  
"Alright, let's crack this thing and see what it is," he exclaimed. After taking the case from Porter, he had carried it back with him and now was going to examine more thoroughly what this purple cloud was.  
Breaking the vacuum seal on the canister, purple smoke began pouring out from the capsule. The cloud inside was gone. Instantly, the scientist felt light-headed.  
Collapsing on the ground, the scientist laid in stasis for a few seconds, followed by a different air surrounding him.  
Getting up, he looked in a mirror.  
"Well, it's not exactly a strong body, but it'll do. Until I find a better one."  
With a spark, the purple in the scientist's eyes dissipated, but the infection was just starting to take effect.  
  
"Anything else, Echo?" Blitz asked, arms folded. He was in the middle of being pelted by sand from his sister's constant digging.  
"I don't get it," she replied. "The map says a building should be here."  
"Maybe you're holding it wrong."  
Echo held the map out in front of her. It wasn't upside-down.  
"If I am looking at it wrong, it could take months to figure out where that building is. Wherever it is, I'm beginning to pick up signals from it, like a transistor frequency or something."  
Blitz used a scanner to find the radio frequencies. He pointed farther into the ruins of ancient Arcadia. "There's one transistor signal. It's coming from that way."  
Echo perked up again. "Maybe we were just looking for the wrong thing all along. Anyway, to figure out what is sending it is gonna take a long time, so we better get cracking."  
Walking past her brother, she slapped him with the map.  
I hate it when she's so impetuous.  
  
Two months later...  
  
Cirrus looked out over the restored center of Neo-Arcadia. After the Reploid Extermination was stopped, the damage from Zero's attacks against the government's agents had to be repaired, but the remaining reploids didn't have the resources needed until recently. Humans were only starting to trust the robots again, and slowly began to move back to Neo-Arcadia from the desert camps they had set up over 250 years ago. Of course, as irony would have it, the moment the humans started returning was when the Maverick virus manifested itself once more, igniting a new chapter of the Irregular Wars that ended four hundred years ago. A new Reploid Police Force was established, and attempted to fight off the Mavericks, but the opposition was very great. Cirrus didn't know how long it would take, but since he was the leader of the Forces, it was his responsibility.  
"Sir, there's a Maverick uprising in Sector Z," Porter said, looking down at the radar screen. After the Mavericks resurrected themselves, the scientist had been appointed the new Hunters' head of research, and was reassigned to the base of operations.  
"Sector Z? That's in the middle of the ruins. Why would they attack there?"  
"Sir, there's an expedition there, trying to excavate the old city."  
"That's right. What's our status?"  
Porter looked to the radar again. "All of our main anti-Maverick forces are preoccupied elsewhere. The 17th is still available, though."  
"Good. Assemble them quickly. I'll head them out personally."  
"Do you think it's that serious?"  
Cirrus looked at Porter tersely. "Anytime Mavericks attack, it's serious."  
"Alright, sir," she replied, punching the intercom button. "17th unit, please assemble in launch bay 2. I repeat, 17th unit, please assemble in launch bay 2. Immediately."  
  
Echo and Blitz looked around once more. There had been an awful explosion a few minutes ago, and they realized Mavericks were closing in on them. Four times this mission had been delayed because of attacks, and since both of them were part of the new class of Hunters, they had to respond to the calls. This time, however, they were too close to give up so quickly. Echo was determined to uncover the source of that transistor signal that started up two months ago, and Blitz was just desperate because he didn't want to be dragged along on Echo's wild goose chases anymore.  
"The signal is coming from over there," Echo said, pointing to a nearby slab of concrete. It appeared to be covering an old elevator shaft, but in the shadows of the skyscrapers left standing after the desertion of the original Arcadia following the end of the Irregular Wars, she could barely make it out properly.  
"Alright," Blitz said, aiming his arm cannon at the slab. Charging the blaster, electricity began surrounding him. The sky darkened, storms brewing up. He'd been given his name for a reason, but the weather altering effects that occurred whenever he charged up where not in the designs. Damage that he'd sustained during construction had forced him to fuse his weather control system with the arm cannon, which had not only resulted in the adverse effect of causing storms, but had substantially increased his already impressive weapons arsenal.  
"Hurry, Blitz. With all this energy flying around, the Mavericks'll be sure to find us!"  
Firing the arm cannon, a bolt of pure electrified plasma erupted from Blitz, charring the street below and blasting the slab to bits. Sure enough, there was an elevator shaft beneath the concrete. Unfortunately, however, Echo was right-the Mavericks had found them. Echo started for the shaft.  
"Stop right there," the one in front said, aiming his twin laser cannons at her. She stopped, turning around to be greeted by the face of Enigma, the former leader of the Police Force. He'd succumbed to the virus early on, and had been experimenting with different weapons arrays since.  
Blitz turned around. Enigma was flanked by two other former Hunters. The storm was continuing to brew above them all, so he didn't have to worry about the consequences now. He secretly began charging his arm cannon.  
"C'mon, guys, you don't wanna do this," Blitz pleaded, making sure to keep his arm behind him.  
Enigma laughed. "Are you kidding, Blitz? Of course we do. Our mission is to find something that our master wants. And you're standing in the way."  
"Your master? What the heck are you talking about?"  
"You are so unenlightened, Blitz. This is a wonderful existence. Reploids have the power to rule the humans. We are the stronger species, and they were made to serve us."  
Blitz realized his cannon was finished charging. The electricity swirling around the area was immense, accompanied by a howling wind that made them have to shout to hear each other.  
Quickly spinning his arm cannon out in front, he sprayed a single flash of plasma into the Mavericks.  
"Echo, get in the shaft! I'll follow you!"  
Echo took off running and leapt into the hole in the ground. The Mavericks were so busy reeling from Blitz's surprise attack they didn't notice when he jumped in as well, sealing the passage behind them with debris. 


	10. Mission Impossible Made Possible

Part X: Mission Impossible Made Possible  
Cirrus looked over the 17th unit's scanty quota of Hunters. This particular squad was on reserve, and had only been sent out twice before. In fact, most of them had never even seen a full-powered Maverick.  
"We're going out to the ruins. There's been an attack, and we suspect it's aimed at the restoration teams. To get there in time, we'll be using the bikes. Once we arrive, just try to stay alive and blast as many Mavericks as you can."  
The Speed Chaser bikes that had been used during the first wave Irregular Wars had been preserved, and were now property of the Police Force. The unit hopped onto them and jetted out as soon as the launch bay doors were opened, led by Cirrus.  
  
Echo landed at the bottom of the shaft-hard. Blitz hit the ground beside her a few seconds later.  
"I think we found it," she said, standing up wearily. That shaft was at least fifteen stories deep, and the room they had fallen into was still in working condition, except for the lack of lighting.  
Using her light cannon, Echo ejected a massive plasma ball into the room. It instantly illuminated their surroundings fluorescently. Blitz got up and walked into the center of the room. There were several sealed capsules here, and from the terminal readout nearby, the contents of them were finished being checked by the diagnostics programs.  
"What is it, Blitz?" Echo asked, going over to her brother.  
"I think these capsules were emitting the transistor pulses."  
"Well, let's open 'em!" Echo exclaimed, pushing a button on the nearest one.  
The seal on the machine squealed as it broke, letting a lot of smoke and steam out from inside. The door began to move out, and slid back slowly, revealing the robot inside, saved by suspended animation all these years.  
  
It had been awhile since he'd felt the air. The last thing he remembered before being put in the capsule was Zero, adorned in some weird armor, helping him get in. He slowly climbed out, and saw two reploids, a female and another whom he would assume was her brother, waiting there in amazement.  
"What's going on? Who are you?"  
The female stammered. "I'm Echo. This is my brother, Blitz. We were picking up a transistor signal and followed it here. We've been trying for months to restore the old city to the way it was, and Mavericks have been trying to stop the progress."  
X's eyes went wide. "Mavericks!? I thought I'd taken care of them all."  
"We thought so too, but they started popping up recently, just as humans began returning to Neo-Arcadia."  
"Neo-Arcadia? Don't ever say that name around me. Too many bad memories. Anyway, we need to equalize this Maverick imbalance."  
Walking over to another capsule, X punched in more authorization codes, causing the container to open in much the same fashion his had. A red robot stepped out, evoking much of the same reaction they had to X.  
"What's with them?" Zero asked, then looking down at his armor, continued, "Hey, I'm back to normal!"  
"Yeah, apparently they haven't seen Hunters like us before. The capsule must have returned your armor back to the way it was when we were fighting Sigma before he infected me."  
X turned to Echo. "Now, why did you release us?"  
"Well, we thought there'd be no harm in it since the transistor signal was saying that there was something out here, and besides, we need some help fighting the Mavericks."  
"Alright," Zero said, punching his fist. "Where are they?"  
  
Cirrus and the other Hunters arrived in time to see Enigma blast down several buildings onto a group of the restoration crew, but they didn't expect the amount of power which they had been matched with.  
Enigma laughed, pointing his cannon at Cirrus. "See what happens? The old leader leaves, a new one takes his place, and then the old one destroys his replacement. See how things go full circle?"  
Cirrus blasted Enigma in the face, throwing the Maverick back. "You won't destroy me, Enigma. You're the one that insists on fighting."  
"I do what my master says!" he retorted, leaping forward and slashing Cirrus with his energy saber. Cirrus jumped backward, firing blasts into the crowd of Mavericks, felling many of them, but not diminishing the fact that the 17th unit was outnumbered.  
Enigma sneered. "You see, Cirrus, the goody-two-shoes bit only lasts a while. And then the ones who have all the fun take over. What I've gained is pure understanding of life. Now don't tell me you don't want that."  
"It's not understanding at all. It's deceit. You've been tricked into thinking you can rule, but there will always be those to bring you down. Can't you grasp that?"  
The Maverick didn't care, little less appear to. He simply pointed his blaster at Cirrus and fired.  
"See you around, Cirrus. In pieces."  
The blast connected with Cirrus' chest, causing his energy generator to explode. The force of the discharge flung the reploid back into a building, debris collapsed on top of him. The eyes slowly lost their glow, and his circuitry gradually shut down. His memory was wiped clean, and the leader of the Police Force passed on.  
"Now, to deal with the rest of you," Enigma said, smiling maliciously at the rest of the 17th. The only problem was, he began noticing a strange energy signal coming from below the street, almost where the elevator shaft Echo and Blitz had caved in was.  
The energy built more and more, and Enigma could see the plasma shining from between the loose rocks covering the hole, beams of light erupting from the shaft as it melted the concrete away. Suddenly, the slab was blown away and the shaft was left smoking.  
"What the...?" he said to himself, wondering exactly the significance of this was.  
Slowly, a pair of reploids emerged from the opening. Blitz and Echo jumped back to street level.  
"We're gonna take you down, Enigma," Echo shot.  
"Don't kid yourself. There's no way that the two of you can take us down."  
"That's true, Enigma. That's very true. The two of us can't."  
"What? You're talking crazy. In any case, you can't destroy me."  
"But I can!" a shout came from the shaft as a red blur rocketed from the opening and sped past Enigma. Moments later, a similar blue streak erupted from the street and dismembered the Mavericks behind him. Enigma looked down to see that his chest had been opened. The red and blue flashes slowed and materialized in front of him.  
"You...but you're."  
"Dead? Hardly," Zero said, latching his saber to his back. X blew the smoke from his smoldering blaster.  
"Just look at yourself, man."  
Enigma felt his generator deactivate as his pieces came apart, falling to the ground.  
"That was easy enough," X said. "The Mavericks should be taken care of here."  
"Let's get back to the HQ," Echo said, turning to the 17th. The Speed Chasers were still parked outside the city, and the group started off to get back to Neo-Arcadia.  
  
A purple cloud rose from Enigma's parts, floating past the ruins of the other Mavericks. Searching between the pieces of concrete in the impact crater Cirrus had made, the cloud found the body of the fallen Maverick Hunter.  
"Now, to use you to my advantage," it hissed, flowing into the robot's circuitry, reactivating every synapse, every connector, every weapons plasmatic. It's memory circuits were rewritten with the memories of a different reploid commander, one that lived four hundred years before, and had been thought extinguished. Cirrus' eyes reanimated, followed by the robot managing to get back to his feet.  
Sigma looked around. The body needed some repairs, but for the time being was good enough. The Hunters had not left for Neo-Arcadia yet. For right now, he would have to pretend to be the leader of the Maverick Hunters, while he constructed his masterpiece. Once that was finished, he could reveal himself, but it would already be too late for X and Zero. 


	11. Sand, Sun, and Large Wooden Boxes

Part XI: Sand, Sun, and Large Wooden Boxes  
Zero climbed onto the Speed Chaser, switching on the power. The whine of the engine turbine gearing up was a sound that almost made him nostalgic, if robots could reminisce, that is. Echo, parked nearby on another Chaser, leaned forward as the bike powered on.  
"I'll never get used to that," she muttered to herself, noticing how easily Zero handled his.  
Just as the group was about to take off for the city, one of the members of the 17th stopped and pointed.  
"Wait, guys! It's Cirrus!"  
The rest turned to see where their colleague was directing them. Sure enough, Cirrus was walking from the ruins, black sear marks all over his normally white and gray armored body. Zero and X both got a strange feeling as the reploid commander approached, as if there was something about him that wasn't quite right. They decided to shrug it off. After all, those feelings are what caused a large amount of the distrust among the original Maverick Hunters.  
"Hold on a second, there!" Cirrus shouted above the noise of the bikes.  
X waited patiently for the burnt reploid to catch up with the group, and then turned to Zero.  
"Let's book it, k?"  
"That's exactly what I was thinking, X."  
The two Hunters sped off at top speed across the desert, accelerating toward Neo-Arcadia as the 17th, Blitz, Echo, and Cirrus watched from behind.  
"So why'd you wanna get away from there so fast, X?" Zero inquired, jumping the Chaser over a boulder.  
"Something about that Cirrus guy just gave me the creeps. I don't like the way he just walked out from those buildings with all that damage but acted like nothing was wrong."  
"Like there's something unnatural about him, you mean."  
"Yeah. To tell you the truth, it's been a long time since I had to battle a Maverick with a lot of my strength, but when Cirrus came out to the bikes, I felt my power shooting up in defense. It was weird."  
"I know exactly what you're talking about, X. My defenses automatically came up when he appeared. I trust him about as much as this bike has chances of going through a solid titanium block."  
X dodged some sort of armadillo creature as he raced alongside Zero's Chaser. "I just want to get back to the old HQ again as soon as possible. There's some stuff to take care of."  
"You mean Alia, don't you?" Zero asked, smirking.  
X appeared to blush. "Very funny, wiseguy. Watch out!"  
Jumping the bike and coming very close to Zero's Chaser, X gunned the engine and took off in front.  
"Have it your way, X. You know I'll still beat you!"  
Zero raised the front of the bike so that more of the speed was diverted to the back, rocketing him back beside his friend.  
"You were saying?"  
"Eat my dust!" X responded, flying to the right of a buried building's rooftop and straight into a wall. Zero swerved around and came back, setting the bike down next to the blue robot, who was laughing hysterically sprawled on his back.  
"Feel smart now?" Zero said, helping X to his feet.  
"The look on your face was priceless!" he responded through the chortling, gesturing back to his friend.  
"Yeah, but see what you did to the bike? It's totaled."  
"That wasn't a good thing, I guess."  
"Right. Look, there's no room on the bike for two of us. So here, hang on."  
Hooking himself onto the back of Zero's Chaser, X lost his breath as Zero took off, making him sand-ski behind the bike. After a couple of seconds, X lost his balance as well and dropped face-first into the dirt. The speed of Zero's Chaser, however, was enough to separate X from the ground and carry him along without hitting again.  
X spit sand from his mouth. "You must think this is hilarious, don't you Zero?!"  
Zero laughed. "What do you think? You've had your fun, now it's my turn!"  
X managed to flip himself over, folding his arms and assuming a semi-comfortable reclining position while flying through the air behind the bike. After a few minutes, Zero turned around again.  
"X, we're just about at the new HQ. Get ready."  
"Get ready for wha...aattttttt?!" he screamed, as the force of Zero skidding to a stop threw him. The cord holding him to the bike had snapped, propelling him towards a large stack of wooden crates. Crossing his chest before the impact, X slammed full-force into the crate stack, shattering the wood and tossing so much dust into the air it was impossible to see anything behind the cloud it created.  
A female reploid scientist came running out of the building.  
"What's going on? I thought I heard something."  
Zero, still on the Chaser, laughed. "No, just a little landing exercise."  
The scientist rubbed her eyes in disbelief. This simply wasn't possible. Zero? He hadn't been seen in three hundred years, and neither had...  
"That was smarts," X said, getting back to his feet, rubbing his lower back. "Remind me never to ride with you again."  
"I'll do that, X," Zero smirked, dismounting the bike and switching it off. The scientist's mouth was on the ground.  
"You're Zero," she said, breathless, eyes fixed on the red Hunter like an idiot staring in amazement at a bright light.  
"Yes, I am. And you would be...?"  
The scientist stumbled to find her words. "P-Porter. It's Porter."  
"Okay. Porter, this is X," Zero said, introducing his comrade. "X, Porter. I would appreciate it if you stopped drooling."  
"Sorry," Porter replied.  
"I was talking to X," Zero joked, being met with a glare from his blue counterpart.  
"Okay. So where's the rest of the 17th?" Porter asked.  
Zero motioned his thumb back at the ruins. "They probably haven't left Arcadia yet."  
X's attention was diverted elsewhere. "Is that a snack bar? Look at the size of that thing!"  
Watching X go for the buffet, Zero put a hand to his eyes and shook his head.  
  
It was a few minutes later that the remaining Hunters got back to the HQ. Porter immediately took notice of Cirrus' damage.  
"Sir, you need to use the repair bay right away."  
Cirrus looked down at his chest. "I suppose so. Where is that?"  
Porter was surprised, to say the least. "Sir, the repair bay is next to the headquarters. It's over there."  
She pointed to a large hangar that had the words 'Repair Bay' painted on it. Cirrus saw it and left.  
Porter turned back to Echo.  
"Did he suffer some sort of brain damage or something?"  
Echo shrugged. "I dunno, Porter. He's been acting weird ever since he came to meet us at the bikes."  
"What happened before that?"  
"He got blasted back into a building by Enigma. Then X and Zero ripped all those Mavericks to shreds and we went back to the Chasers."  
"Hmmm, I don't know then. Oh well, it doesn't matter. Cirrus is better left to his own devices. The guy's a major pain in the neck, if you ask me."  
Blitz leaned up against another stack of crates.  
"Are you sure the Maverick activity is truly being controlled by some central force?"  
Porter looked back at him, continuing the conversation that they'd started before Cirrus and the 17th returned.  
"All I know is that the behavior of the Mavericks we've seen sofar is concentrated around sabotaging mining, restoration, and industry operations. It's almost as if they were given directions to get materials for some project."  
"Yeah, I do remember Enigma saying something about his 'master', whatever that means."  
  
Sigma entered the repair bay, looking around.  
"So far, so good. They don't suspect a thing. Now, to find the parts I need."  
Scrounging through the old piles of junk and refuse, he stumbled onto the body of a deactivated reploid. It was mangled beyond general recognition, but a couple of its signature features stood out enough for him to determine who it was.  
Lifting Bit's shrapnel from the pile, Sigma took the remains to a nearby repair capsule. He placed them in the machine and closed the door, activating the facility's restoration faculties. After a minute of two, the door opened, and Sigma was left with a smoldering, yet better condition body of his former Doppler-controlled lieutenant. His arm cannon and left leg were both stripped down to the skeleton, and it's abdomen circuitry was exposed, since most of the armor had been blown apart by X when the two had fought. Half of Bit's face armor was gone as well, leaving the robot's frightening skull exposed. The blue optical receptor flashed impatiently, awaiting an input program.  
Sigma knew that he couldn't reactivate Bit just yet. After all, there was no telling if he had enough of his memory circuits left to remember everything that had happened. The restoration was only able to buff the remaining armor and repair cracks and dents in the skeleton and skin. The circuitry was only renewed as far as the boards were concerned. The internal wiring was still not correctly installed. He would have to take Bit somewhere and upgrade him. Only then could he reactivate the strongest second-in-command he'd ever created.  
Let's see, he thought to himself. A nearby subterranean laboratory would be perfect.  
Holding his hand out, Sigma called all of his viral strengths plus those of his new body together to telepathically reassemble the jungle base that Doppler constructed all those years ago. Of course, now the base was located deeper in the tropical forest, and nearer to the ocean than before.  
"Good. Now, to take you to safety."  
Using Cirrus' inbuilt transport program, Sigma teleported himself to the base. The area was in even worse repair than after he destroyed it. Vines and other vegetation were growing on the outside of the installation, and the electricity probably didn't work, but he couldn't complain. After he had the power to assemble a new wave of Mavericks to do his bidding, he could get those amenities filled to his desire. Right now, however, he had to work on getting Bit fully up and running. 


	12. Discovery

Part XII: Discovery  
It was several days later, and Echo and Blitz were cleaning a section of the underground chamber where they found X and Zero. Blitz had just finished getting all the debris out of the room, and Echo was working on repairing the computer system.  
"Do you think that there's something weird about Cirrus?" Echo asked.  
Blitz shrugged. "I don't know. If you ask me, Cirrus was always a little intense."  
"That's not what I mean. Doesn't it strike you as strange that he acts like he's hiding something? That he walked away from that Maverick assault without a scratch on him?"  
"I think you're blowing things out of proportion, Echo. Just leave Cirrus alone. He's not going to lead us into some suicide mission just for the sake of seeing us get destroyed. He's not a Maverick."  
"Yeah, I guess I should cool it. Stop being so paranoid."  
"That's good advice."  
  
Zero walked out of the remaining portion of the HQ's above-ground remains. He hadn't seen any sign of Alia, Iris, or Signas. Gate's suspended animation capsule was found a few hours ago, but they didn't release him. They wanted to make sure everyone was together.  
He turned on the transmitter. "X, any luck?"  
X was below-ground, searching the secondary capsule room. "I don't know. I found a few more containment chambers, but they're not labeled."  
"How many?"  
"Three."  
"Alright, I'll be down there in a minute."  
  
Strolling into the room X was in, Zero's vision was instantly directed to the three machines in the center of the room.  
"That them?"  
X nodded. "Yep."  
Zero accessed the mainframe, choosing to open the capsules. Immediately, there was a loud hiss as the seals on the machines broke, releasing cold steam into the chamber. The lids drew back, and revealed exactly what they had hoped they'd find-Alia, Iris, and a very perturbed Signas.  
"Just what the heck did you think you were doing, putting us in there? I'm in my right mind to-"  
Signas was cut off as X read the monitor. "Maverick activity. Directly above."  
Iris, who had been revived by Lifesaver after she fought Zero, clasped her hands together and answered in her smooth British accent, "What? How can that be?"  
Alia straightened the radio headset she always wore. "Yeah, X, what's going on? I thought you destroyed the last of the Mavericks."  
Zero spoke up in his friend's behalf. "That's not really the issue. Something happened, and now the Mavericks are back again. This time, though, it seems to be that they're collecting materials for a project or something."  
"A project? What?"  
Now it was X's time to explain. "The Mavericks seem to be under directions to collect materials. We don't know what for, but I wouldn't think it's a good thing to leave them alone and wait."  
Signas stretched, popping his knuckles anxiously. "So what are we supposed to do?"  
X and Zero looked at each other, then back at the others.  
"Stay here and keep us informed," they said in unison.  
"Zero," Iris complained, "it's dangerous. You could get hurt."  
Alia shot a glance at her. "Oh, shut up, you chippie."  
Iris' eyes went wide at that comment. Thankfully, Zero stepped in before the slapping and screaming began.  
"Don't worry, Iris, I'll be okay. And we can try to figure out how Alia can access the HQ's old mainframe. Maybe there are some clues we didn't pick up on four hundred years ago. Gate can help her after we release him from suspended animation."  
They seemed to accept that. X breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something else when he felt a rumble.  
"Did anyone else feel that?" he asked, glancing around the room.  
"Feel what, X?" Signas returned. A few seconds later, the ground began shaking, knocking plaster and dust down into the chamber.  
"Never mind. What is that?"  
"I don't know. Hopefully not Mavericks," Alia said.  
Zero unlatched his saber. "I'll go check."  
Disappearing out of a nearby hole in the ceiling, Zero rushed out to street level and used his quick jump reflexes to propel himself onto a rooftop overlooking the desert. He couldn't see anything but sand, sand, more sand, and one large...  
"Oh, no," he said to himself, jaw dropped in awe.  
In the distance, a sandstorm of gargantuan proportions was speeding toward them. At the center of the storm was some sort of weird Maverick that seemed familiar, but Zero couldn't figure out where he had seen it before. Aiming himself down to the hole he jumped from, Zero plummeted back into the chamber, landing next to X.  
"We have to take cover. It is a Maverick. A big one."  
"Can't you fight it?"  
"I wouldn't chance it. It's going so fast, it'll run over us before we could do anything."  
"Alright. We need to get Gate out of here, though," Alia reminded them all.  
"Yeah. X, you tell Echo and Blitz what's happening, and I'll make sure Gate gets out. Everybody else, get back to street level and head for the center of the city."  
Signas was confused. "Why? We'll be out in the open."  
"The core of the original Arcadia was really the remains of another city. That section was heavily fortified against attack. Chances are, even if that thing invades the city, it'll have to slow down to avoid damaging itself. It'll give us more time to get rid of it."  
Alia, Iris, and Signas exited through the hole that Zero just exited from. X rushed into the next room, warning Echo and Blitz to abandon what they were doing and run for safety. Zero, meanwhile, began the task of getting Gate out of the containment capsule.  
The door opened, aided by a sharp hit from Zero's saber, shattering the metal in front of the shocked reploid scientist.  
"What are you doing?!" he yelled, as Zero picked him up and flung him over his shoulder. "I insist you put me down!"  
"Shut up, Gate. Unless you wanna be Maverick feed."  
The scientist figured it was better to be humiliated than dead, so he did as Zero said. The two of them met up with X, Echo, and Blitz on the street. Zero let Gate down.  
"Now, run!" X yelled, taking off at a bolt.  
Blitz jumped over a dumpster and looked back to see the giant Maverick bearing down on the city. It had jumped onto the street they were on and was now chasing them.  
"Uh, guys. There's a bit of a problem."  
Zero glanced to the gray and black reploid. "What?"  
Blitz motioned back with his head, and Zero's surprised expression cleared immediately when he took a look behind them.  
"Aah! Guys, haul it!"  
The rest of them sped up, dodging falling debris as the Maverick knocked concrete loose from the buildings lining the street. Suddenly, Blitz had an idea.  
"Echo! Scan this guy! What is he?!"  
Turning around and quickly scanning the Maverick, Echo shouted back, "It looks like an aquatic!"  
Blitz's eyes glistened enthusiastically. "Great! That's great!"  
Zero looked over at the Hunter. "What are you on, Blitz? Crack?"  
"No!" he yelled back, charging his blaster. X and Zero looked up as lightning began crashing all around them.  
"X! Clear a path in front of us! Zero, can you use your saber to spray a plasma blast?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Just follow my lead, and when I tell you to, you'll know what to do."  
"Okay."  
Continuing to charge his arm cannon, Blitz made the lightning bolts striking the city more and more intense. The Maverick was unlucky enough to actually catch several of these strikes, jolting it back a few times. The electric field surrounding Blitz had become so thick Zero could hardly see him anymore. All of a sudden, he turned around, and propelled himself backward, in the direction the rest of the group was heading, and fired.  
"Now, Zero!" he yelled, as the electricity from around him solidified into a huge blast of plasma flowing through the cannon on his arm. The field quickly disappeared, and Zero knew what Blitz was talking about before.  
Spinning the Z-Saber like a propeller, Zero was able to create an electric spray from Blitz's energy blast. The Maverick looked on in shock as the beams of electricity rendered it piece by piece. It wasn't enough, though.  
"It's still coming!" Echo screamed, leaping over another trash bin.  
"Yeah, but it's slowing down! We injured it!"  
It was true. The Maverick was sparking quite heavily. But the energy hadn't destroyed it, and Blitz was depleted for the moment.  
"Just keep running!" X called to the rest of them. Then, suddenly, he stopped in the middle of the street. The others caught up and stopped as well.  
"What's going on, X?" Zero asked.  
"We're right near the others, that's what! That stupid street led us right to the city center!"  
"What?!"  
"See for yourself! Hey, Alia!" X said, waving. Zero's gaze was redirected to a nearby alleyway, where Iris, Alia, and Signas were crouched behind a slab of concrete.  
"This is just great, you know that?"  
"Zero!" Iris called when she saw him, and ran out into the street. Zero's eyes went wide, trying to tell her to get back to cover, but she was already halfway there.  
"Iris, you idiot! Get back here!" Alia screamed, then took off to fetch her.  
Signas was left alone. What about me?  
"Girls! Wait up!" he called, running from behind the asphalt debris to where X and Zero were standing.  
It was at that moment that the Maverick decided to round the corner, barreling down the street towards the group. It was the first time X or Zero had gotten a good look at it.  
"What a sec," Zero started. "That's..."  
The Maverick stopped in front of them, peering down with its insanely small head from a height of over thirty feet suspended on a gigantic body that was so out of proportion that it was surprising the wind hadn't snapped off its head yet. In its heyday, it could speak, but the damage it received in one particular battle had disabled that for now. The ring that ran from one side of its body, over its head, and into the other side was glowing, and the lionesque body began pounding the asphalt below them.   
X struggled to stand underneath the pressure rising from the street.  
"This really isn't safe to just stand here, you know."  
Zero hung onto a nearby mailbox. "And what else can we do, X? Really?"  
Echo's voice had taken on a frightened tone.  
"Uh, guys..."  
X looked back at her. "What is it?"  
"Is the street supposed to be cracking like this?"  
X and Zero glanced below them. Sure enough, the concrete road was beginning to split, the force of the pounding breaking the bonds that held in place for so many years.  
"We've gotta get off this slab before it falls away!" X said, a little too late. The road gave way, swallowing the entire group into its black depths. 


	13. The Past Revealed

Part XIII: The Past Revealed  
Echo turned around again. They'd been falling for a good five minutes now, not having gone anywhere, really, and she was getting annoyed.  
"When is this gonna end?" she asked.  
Zero, arms folded, looked over to her. "You realize what that Maverick was?"  
"Yeah," she replied. "Big and dangerous."  
"No. I meant who it was."  
"I dunno. One of the brainchildren of the Maverick central command, maybe?"  
X was growing suspicious. "It was..."  
"O Inary."  
Echo crossed her arms. "And what does that mean to me?"  
"You ever hear of a Maverick called Bit?"  
Echo nodded, eyes expressing the type of infamous recognition that Bit had.  
"Well, he really wasn't just a typical Maverick. Unlike the others, even his partner Byte, Bit had the ability to change form. He only had one other-the O Inary. It was based on a previous joint design that was intended to allow him and Byte to join into one Maverick, which would be called Godkarmachine. Of course, since Byte was destroyed by X during the Doppler Crisis and Doppler, or rather, Sigma, had anticipated that. For that reason, they designed Bit with the capacity to use the form independently, with no need for Byte. That's the O Inary."  
"I see. So that means that Bit returned?"  
"I'm not sure. Bit wasn't a water Maverick. He may have been modified. But by who?"  
X's eyes narrowed. "Sigma."  
Blitz spun around to face him, a complicated trick since he was falling.  
"But I thought that the Sigma Virus was destroyed!?"  
Zero shook his head. "Far from it. After I freed X here from Sigma's grasp following the Extermination Plot's disintegration, he tried to escape. I locked him in a vacuum containment cylinder and left him. As far as I know, all Maverick activity is caused by that virus, so he must have been released. I didn't take the time to hide him where he couldn't be found. X was in need of immediate repair, and I wasn't thinking forward."  
Blitz nodded. "So that's why all these Mavericks have been popping up? Sigma's back, and he's brought Bit with him?"  
X looked down, checking the shaft for a second before replying.  
"I don't think so. At least, not entirely. It was O Inary we were fighting, but it took an enormous amount of energy for Bit to transfer to that form. It may be that for the moment, Sigma was able to separate the two forms so O Inary could be used while repairs were being made to Bit. As I can recall, he was heavily damaged after I fought him. Almost to the point of total scrap. I thought he didn't survive, but maybe part of his memory circuits could be reactivated."  
"Which could explain why he couldn't talk," Zero continued.  
"Yeah. O Inary had a really inhuman voice. Not like a reploid at all. Almost as if he wasn't quite a robot when he assumed that form."  
"Okay," Echo said, thinking to herself that X had flipped while making sure she wasn't about to smash into the ground and not have to worry about Bit or O Inary or whatever that thing was.  
"When is this shaft gonna stop?" Blitz asked, glancing up and then down. The hole in the pavement made by O Inary was caved in by debris, so all of them had to run when they hit bottom(if they hit without breaking any legs) so they wouldn't get flattened by the concrete. An impact at the speed that stuff was going, and from the height it was falling would make X and Zero into metal pancakes in no time flat.  
Trying to lighten the mood, Alia spoke up.  
"So what do you think ever happened to Dr. Light's original robots? You know, Rock, Proto, Roll...the ones X is most closely related to."  
"They couldn't have survived the fall," both X and Zero said in unison, then looked at each other.  
"Where did that come from?" X asked, glancing at his red plated friend.  
"I dunno. How did I know that?"  
Iris and Signas were looking at them like they finally had snapped when X noticed the floor of the shaft coming up.  
"Uh, guys, I think we'd better use our magnetic boot functions to slow our descent now. The ground's comin' up real fast."  
All of them got over to a far wall, using the magnetic boosters in their feet to slide down the shaft slower than they'd been falling. X calculated that they'd lost enough speed to safely land by falling, and signaled them all to let go of the wall in order to dodge to pieces of debris now showering them.  
"All right, everyone, now swing over!" he yelled, throwing himself into the room below and away from the shaft. Zero, Iris, Alia, Signas, Echo, and Blitz soon joined him.  
"Now get to cover!" Zero yelled, throwing himself behind a nearby computer terminal. The others took similar shelter as the concrete exploded on impact with the shaft floor, throwing dust and rocks everywhere.  
After the smoke cleared, Zero stood up.  
"So where are we?" he asked, looking around. It was very dimly lit, but it appeared to be a lab of some sort.  
Echo snapped her fingers. "Of course! I read about these. Years before Arcadia was built, Dr. Light had the city's architects construct massive underground automated control chambers. We must be in one of them."  
"But how do we get outta here?" he specified, hands on his hips.  
X scanned the concrete. "Unless we wanna blast through about fourteen feet of solid compacted asphalt, we gotta find some other way."  
Zero sighed, glancing to Echo.  
"You can light up these areas, right?"  
"Yeah."  
Powering up her light cannon for the second time that week, Echo ejected the glowing plasma ball from her arm, illuminating the entire room. It was massive, with several computer terminals and from what X and the others could see, the bodies of robots that had been trapped here like they were now.  
"Well, let's find out how to get outta here!" Zero said, rummaging through some of the old computer mainframes to try to find a layout.  
Alia had just begun to search when X and Zero heard a scream come from her area. Iris followed up with a similar scream several seconds later, from across the room. Blitz and Echo arrived before X and Zero, and both of them had a surprised and horrified expression on their faces when the latter two got to them.  
"What's going on? Alia, are you okay?" X asked, upon which Alia pointed at the nearby body of a robot.  
"Looks like we found the answer to our question," she said, trying to steady herself against a terminal.  
"Huh?" X said, then looked around to where the body was.  
"Oh my..." he began, trailing off in awe. Zero looked next, and his mouth dropped.  
Lying on the floor of the chamber was a blue robot, armored similarly to X, and possessing an arm cannon very akin to the one X had fixed to his hand. The robot's bushy brown hair had been covered with enough dust to cause emphysema, but some quick vacuuming on Echo's part had taken care of most of it. Nearby was the body of a robotic dog, cat, and bird, along with a female robot in a red and black dress.  
"I can't believe it," X said, astonished. "I always thought they'd been destroyed, not trapped like this."  
Iris, calmed down a little by the initial jolt, called Zero over to her.  
"What is it, Iris?" he asked, coming over to her. She immediately embraced him, digging her face into his chest to shield her eyes.   
He looked down to the body lying there. It's black armor had been coated with five hundred years of dust and soot, and the purple braces holding his drooped wings on had found a way of keeping clean, but only for a short time. Nearby, another robot, visored and holding a shield, was sprawled out on the floor, helmet cracked and exposing the shaggy mane of brown hair he also owned.  
"Here's the others, guys," Zero said, calling over to X and Alia. Signas, Echo, and Blitz had decided to take a moment to digest all of this new information, sitting down in the chairs for the terminal operators of long before their times.  
"What happened? How did they get down here? And why are we the only ones that found them?"  
You are not the only ones to find them, a voice came from the nearest screen. It was glowing, and had startled Alia so badly that she fainted.  
"Dr. Light? Is that you?" X asked, walking to the computer.  
Yes, X, it's me. I have been able to live unaffected by the events you and your friends had to live through because I've been trapped inside this computer system.  
"What? I thought all those capsules that you left behind just contained holograms."  
"No, X. I was actually talking to you just as I am talking to you now. Before you can remember, the lab where you were being built was attacked. Luckily, you were finished just before the attack began, and defended yourself, but your attempt to save me ended in my getting trapped in the computer systems I myself had created."  
"Who would attack your lab? Why would they do that?"  
Dr. Light's transparent, blue-tinted face struggled to say the next words. "Dr. Wily, my former colleague, had gone insane and tried to destroy Rock and Proto on many occasions. He even kidnapped me and blamed everything on Proto once. In any case, I had designed a new system for a neural net, and somehow Wily managed to get hold of the plans. He had already designed a robot that was to be so powerful that it could easily destroy Rock, Proto, and Bass, his rebelliant equivalent to Rock, and implemented my designs, modified slightly to fit his robot properly, to create your friend Zero.  
X glanced back to Zero. His partner's eyes were wide in shock, not realizing the extent of his past.  
"X, there's more. Zero, you didn't trust Wily from the start, but he used a neuralizer to disable your ability to make decisions like X. He sent you to kill me and take my plans, but X was able to defend that from happening entirely. The malfunction from your brain being subjected to it led to you doing away with Wily yourself. Rock, Proto, and Bass were fighting each other when you arrived at the battleground. X came to fight you off, but in the end, you made the street collapse into a maintenance shaft, and caved in the shaft with a building. They were able to dodge the impact just as you did, but the dust content quickly infiltrated their systems and deactivated them. You sought shelter in the mountains to repair yourself, and X returned to the lab. I sealed X in the capsule, which erased his memory. I'm not sure what happened to you, Zero, but I'm sure X can explain that part. I know this is a lot to deal with, but I have a very important favor to ask of you."  
"What is it, Dr. Light?" X said, looking to everyone else in the room.  
A sphere of energy materialized in a nearby cultivation tube. Dr. Light pointed to the ball of light.  
"Use this to reactivate Rock, Proto, Roll, Bass, and their animal companions. They may not be up-to-date by today's robotic standards, but I believe I can help to fix that problem. They can help you to defeat the Sigma Virus once and for all."  
Zero nodded. "How do we use it?"  
"Fortunately, Zero, I've designed it so that the only one that can use it is you. I'm afraid that Bass' machinery would not be responsive if X used the activation sphere. That's why I chose to configure it for your makeup. Since many of the systems you possess are in Bass, and in a way are derivatives of my work, you can fully revive everyone here. Simply take it in your hands and it will do the rest."  
With that, Dr. Light's hologram disappeared, leaving Zero looking at the energy ball.  
"Go ahead, man," X said, patting Zero on the back. The red Hunter grasped the sphere in both hands, and instantly was powered on with energy. He could feel the information contained in the energy's packets reach his circuitry, reconfiguring him and retrieving his lost memories. The streams of energy made his eyes glow white, and began flowing around the room, restoring X's memories of 20XX as well. When the energy touched the bodies on the floor, it was as if lightning had struck. Their armor cleaned itself off, as well as the internal circuitry that had been clogged by years of dust exposure, and their eyes began to glow the same white as Zero's. Soon, the light had dulled back down to the simple amount Echo's cannon had made, and the sphere returned to the containment tube, where it dissipated.  
X and Zero glanced around the room, seeing the bodies of their ancestors begin to move, life given to them once again. Bass' purple armor patches began to separate from him, and reformed into a wolf-like robot, lying next to him on the floor. Then, something happened and the chamber was gone. 


	14. Follow The White Rabbit

Part XIV: Follow The White Rabbit  
Sigma resumed his work on Bit. Since the O Inary was able to be separated from him, Sigma used that to attack X and Zero while he had time to upgrade his lieutenant. According to the information brought back from the assault, Sigma knew that X, Zero, and all their little friends had been disposed of.  
Putting one more piece onto Bit's new armor, Sigma activated a function within himself. Every single Maverick's energy was a part of the virus, and therefore their memory circuits were no longer necessary. Sigma could revive any of his followers if need be, although he never had seen the use in doing that, save for Vile and now Bit. Transferring Bit's memory to the new body, Sigma stepped back as the eyes began to glow bright green, subsiding into the normal color that Bit held before he was destroyed.  
Sitting up, the robot glanced around.  
"What the heck is going on here, and who are you?" he asked, British accent fluctuating from anger.  
Sigma walked back up to the table. "It's me, Bit. Sigma."  
Concentrating a few seconds, Bit realized that the robot in front of him was telling the truth. Granted the body wasn't what Sigma typically inhabited, it did have an air about it.  
"What is going on here, though?"  
"Very good question, Bit. I was only recently released from containment. It's four hundred years in the future. X and Zero were going to be a problem but I was able to harness the O Inary inside of you and attack them. They've been kicked out of the picture, and we can begin to stage the ultimate plan to dominate this world."  
"You don't mean..."  
"Yes, Bit. I mean exactly what you're thinking. The plans for the ultimate reploid warrior have been unearthed, and I expect to build it."  
Bit hopped down off the table and began walking around. "Alright, Sigma, but what do you think is going to be the feasibility of this? I mean, do we have the resources? The space? The-"  
"It's all been taken care of."  
Bit laughed. "Good. What, may I ask, is to be done about Byte?"  
Sigma shook his head. "Byte was completely destroyed. There's no way to revive him."  
"Well, that's all the better. I'm more powerful than he was anyway."  
"Especially now that you've been upgraded. O Inary has been reintegrated with you, but it has another form now. Version 2.0 is able to be accessed now."  
Bit's eyes widened. Version 2.0 was only on the drawing boards when he was defeated by X. It had no time to be installed. This was great!  
"The Hunters won't know what hit them," he said, smirking below his shielded mouth.  
  
Zero stood up again. It was dark, and he couldn't see anything. Sure, there was enough of an energy signature to let him know that X and the others were closeby, but there was no way to physically ascertain that.  
"X?" he asked, glancing around.  
"Yeah, Zero? Where are you?" X voice rebounded from somewhere in the dark.  
"Is Echo near you? We need some light in here."  
Echo had heard him, since the room instantly lighted itself from her arm cannon.  
"You were saying?" she answered, taking in the surroundings.  
There had been a teleportation system in play when everything had disappeared, and now the room they were in was clean, and Rock and the others were just beginning to stir back to life. In fact, X's predecessor was the first to stand.  
"You," he said, pointing at Zero. "What do you want with us?"  
"I don't want anything with you, Rock. Dr. Light explained everything to me. I was under the influence of a virus. It's gone now."  
He seemed to accept that, and calmed down Roll, Proto, and Bass when they awoke.  
X crossed his arms. "Alright, now how did we get here?"  
Again, a light began emanating from a nearby terminal and Dr. Light's hologram appeared.  
Rock was astounded. "What's going on?"  
Dr. Light spoke to his second creation. "Rock, it's alright. X and Zero have been able to wake you and everyone else just perfectly. You're in 25XX now. There's been a lot that's happened since you first saw X and Zero fight each other. They need your help to eradicate the Sigma Virus. It's caused massive amounts of destruction and chaos, and although they've been able to fight it off, I fear that the coming battle will be more taxing than any before. With your help, they may be able to get rid of it, once and for all."  
"But how are you talking to us? I thought Zero killed you."  
"He didn't kill me. I was knocked into the vacuum containment system and trapped inside the computer systems. That's how I've survived all these years and was able to give X upgrades from time to time."  
Gate was a little harder to convince. "How could you upgrade X from within the computer systems?"  
"X, show him."  
Immediately, a light flashed from Dr. Light's most advanced robot and he donned the Dash Armor he'd used on his first mission.  
"See, Gate," X said, quickly switching to the Crush, Charge, Gold, Nova, Falcon, Gaia, Blade, Shadow, and Strike Armors. "I was upgraded."  
The scientist snubbed his nose at the gesture. Turning back to Dr. Light, Rock needed some answers.  
"But how can we help them? We're nowhere near as powerful as they are."  
"I understand that, Rock. That is why I have been preparing a new set of armor upgrades for all of you. Unfortunately, I need more time to get every one of the armors completed, but at this time I've finished the Hyper Armor. Because of the differences between X's, Rock's, and Proto's systems and Zero's and Bass', I made sure to design two different variants that would be compatible and still provide the same benefits."  
"What does it do?" Rock asked, mirroring the expression on the faces of the others.  
"Well, Rock, every piece performs a different function. The leg enhancements allow a power dash that engulfs the user in energy and can be used as a weapon as well as being able to perform a multi-directional air dash and higher jumping capacity. The chest armor allows you to absorb energy from your enemies to perform the power dash or to fire a super-charged plasma shot. The cannon upgrade creates a plasma beam that can be fired as either a blast or a rapid-fire ricocheting weapon. And finally, the helmet allows the user to become invisible to radar scans."  
"How do we equip it, though?" he asked.  
"All you have to do, Rock, is place your hands on the levers on the terminal. Proto, you and X need to grab the levers on the sides of Rock."  
Taking hold of the bars, the three robots began to feel new energy flow into their systems. Their external armor began improving itself, and changed color. Chest armor materialized on X, Rock, and Proto, as well as spiked helmets and larger arm cannons. Their leg armor changed to white, along with the rest of the armor. Gold and silver lines ran along the armor in various places, and Proto's shield was altered into a stronger metal and angular shape.  
"Wow," Rock said, looking down at himself. "This is amazing."  
"You and Proto now have an equal amount of plasmatics in your arm cannons. Now, Zero and Bass, step up to the terminal and take your upgrades."  
Bass was unsure. "Why should I take an upgrade from you?"  
Dr. Light stared at him. "Bass, I know that you were built by Wily, and that your brain tells you not to trust me, but Wily is gone and you all are in great danger. I know that with your help, the others can destroy the Sigma Virus and the onslaught that it will bring with it."  
"Fine."  
"There is only one thing, Bass," Dr. Light continued. "You and Rock both have the ability to bond with Rush and Treble. That ability was taken into consideration, and two programs were designed for both of you. One of them allows Rush or Treble to become a bike-like vehicle, and the other gives them the ability to independently fire upgraded weaponry. In any case, you cannot bond with them until after you activate the Armor. Otherwise, it will not work."  
"Alright."  
Zero was the first to latch onto the bars, followed by Bass. The energy upgrade brought the same sort of chest armor, arm cannon power, leg enhancements and stealth capabilities that Rock, X, and Proto had gained. The difference, however, was that Bass' signature helmet crests were made stronger and pointed. Zero's helmet gained two spikes to each side of the forehead crystal he had, as well as the length reaching down to his neck instead of his chin.  
"Zero, your saber has been enhanced as well. You can perform the spinning razor attack now. It allows plasma to erupt from the saber and fire toward the enemy."  
Zero nodded, and stepped back from the terminal. The good doctor wasn't finished.  
"Rock, you and Bass both have previously acquired weapons that have been stored in the database of my systems. Here, take them to use once more."  
Two spheres of energy came from the screen. The blue one merged with Rock, while the black one adhered itself to Bass.  
"Good luck, all of you," Light said, and vanished from sight, leaving them in silence.  
Bass turned to Rock. "You know, one thing I've never understood..."  
"What?"  
He pointed to his now-white former enemy. "You have hair, and I don't. And Proto has hair. Now, I hate Wily, but did he do that on purpose or something to be cruel?"  
X sighed. "Bass, I've got hair too."  
Removing his helmet, it seemed as though a taller, leaner version of Rock was standing right next to Zero. They had almost the same bushy brown locks and everything. It was creepy. If Proto had taken his head gear off as well, the only difference he'd have with the other two was that he was red.  
"Now this really isn't fair. Wily built Zero also, and he's got hair," he said, swiveling around to face his stronger descendent.  
Zero was shocked. "You call this hair?!"  
Grabbing the helmet and raising it up, Zero easily proved that the assumption Bass had just made was entirely false. Sure, there was a lock of hair, but it was attached to the back of the helmet. Underneath the helmet was just Zero's neural circuitry.  
"Never mind."  
"Good. Glad to clear that up," Zero answered. "So how do we get outta here now?"  
Rock scratched his head. "I vaguely remember this place. Dr. Light once had us take a tour of the underground computer network, and I think I can find my way out if I get the chance."  
"Wait, Rock!" a small voice came from behind. The pitch was incredibly strange, and fluctuated in odd ways.  
"Fliptop?" Rock said, kneeling down as the little red transport robot ran to him and jumped into his arms. "What are you doing here?"  
X began slipping away from Rock and Fliptop, and closer to Zero. "Is it just me or does that thing give you the creeps?"  
Zero nodded, eyes as wide as his partner's. "Yeah, a little bit."  
  
Zero looked down the corridor for a second time. Rock had been leading them all around in circles for the last few minutes, and the usually-red Hunter was getting seriously irked.  
"I could find a faster way outta here!" he exclaimed, drawing his saber.  
Bass nodded. "Yeah, listen to the guy with the man breasts!"  
Zero shot a look at his ancestor. "For the last time, they are energy nodes! Do I make myself clear?"  
Gulping, Bass backed up a tad. "Sure. Perfectly."  
That resolved, Zero went back to slinking along with the rest of the group toward a nearby emergency escape shaft adjacent to the one they'd fallen into to begin with. Luckily, it still had a working lift in it.  
"Alright, everyone," Rock said, "pile in."  
Stuffing themselves into the same small compartment, Bass and Zero were pushed to the back wall. The black robot was smirking and trying to suppress his hysterical laughing.  
Zero crossed his arms and glared at Bass. "Just what is so funny?"  
"I dunno. Did Wily hate you for some reason or something? I mean, why else would he make a male robot that needs a bra-"  
His heckling was stopped when Zero grabbed Bass by the throat and slammed him against the wall of the car.  
"I told you to shut up."  
"Can you put me down?" Bass managed, vocals held down by Zero's strong skeletal torque.  
"Alright, but only if you promise not to do that again."  
"I swear," Bass replied, holding up his hand. "Scout's honor."  
Letting him go, Zero backed up to where X was. Bass rubbed his neck, working his voice back to normal.  
"So what size are they? A, B cup?"  
Zero began to leap forward, but X and Rock were able to move quickly enough and grab the Hunter's arms to restrain him.  
"Oh, c'mon X. Let me hurt him. You heard what he said."  
"I don't that'd be wise, Zero. I really don't."  
"I don't care X. I'm gonna kill him. And then I'm gonna kill him some more."  
"Zero, think. What is a little off about Bass' appearance?" X whispered, making sure nobody else heard him.  
Zero calmed down, and straightened back to normal posture. Observing Bass, he noticed the most obvious feature of his armor-the two huge crests on his head.  
"No offense, Zero, but I know a few people that could recommend some really good lingerie shops. You should take a look. Buy some for your girlfriend there, and maybe some for yourself," Bass continued, chortling.  
Zero crossed his arms. "Nice advice coming from someone whose head looks like a 1957 Cadillac."  
Bass' eyes widened.  
"Yeah, how's the mileage on your head? I bet it must be high, you've been asleep so long."  
"Stop it," Bass snapped under his breath.  
"Yeah, and maybe once I get that bra you were saying I need, I could string it over one of your fins and you wouldn't need any sort of disguise for Halloween. You could go as a pervert."  
"Stop it now."  
Zero continued taunting the black robot while the elevator slowly rose to the surface. 


	15. A Little ‘Bit’ Of Rage

Part XV: A Little 'Bit' Of Rage  
"So, Sigma," Bit continued. "What's with the whole armor thing here? I mean, it's you, but it's not you."  
"You're making no sense, Bit."  
"What I'm saying is that it physically houses you, but it's not really your style of host."  
Sigma looked down at Cirrus' body.  
"Well, one, this is as good as this time offers me. Two, this is the strongest body that I could find that was not virus-resistant. Stupid Hunter scientists and their effing technology."  
"Oh, well. When do I get to fight?"  
"Soon, Bit. Very soon. There are only three more parts I need to start building it."  
"And those would be?"  
Sigma counted them off on his fingers. "One, a device known as the Ioton, that would supply the massive weapons energy. Two, material to make a second optical receptor. And third, the Astro chip."  
"I've heard about that. Isn't it supposed to be used to stabilize weapons and defense?"  
"Yes, exactly. Since the Ioton creates more power than all of my followers and my previous bodies put together, the defense system would be impervious to any attack whatsoever."  
"True. Are you planning on this body being your ultimate host?"  
"At least part of the time. It will be so much larger than a convenient size that I'll still need another body to transfer to. And as that stands, that'll be this one."  
Bit brought his hands together in front of his face, pushing them in and apart repeatedly. His eyes flashed a malicious red color. The new armor he'd been given as well as the updated munitions had made his already intense appearance all the more fierce.  
"Where is this Ioton? And where are the troops I'll be commanding?"  
"It's a good thing you asked, Bit. I figured you would need troops, and since I designed and built several subordinate officers since I was released, they will be placed under your authority. They can secure the perimeter and you can do the retrieval."  
"That sounds fair enough. Where are they?"  
Whistling, Sigma called in three reploids, ranging from small to large.  
"These are your troops. On the left is Thermal Fox, followed by Flood Mouse and Poison Porcupine. They were holdovers from the last uprising. Somehow, they were frozen and just recently thawed."  
Bit looked the Mavericks over. "I guess that'll do. Now about the Ioton?"  
"Oh yes, that," Sigma replied. "It is located in this building right here, next to the munitions depot in Neo-Arcadia. Be careful, that area is currently on Hunter patrol."  
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, sir," Flood Mouse chipped, diminutive size being shadowed by the Fox and Porcupine next to him.  
"That's right," Fox said, folding her arms. "We're some of the best."  
Bit looked to Sigma. "A female?"  
"I resent that."  
"I wasn't talking to you, red. I thought I was getting a reploid fox."  
"Hey! For your information, I am. To be exact, I'm a vixen."  
"And again, toots, I wasn't speaking to you."  
Huffing, Thermal stormed out of the hangar they were in. Bit's eyes followed her, particularly fixated on the swinging tail in back...  
"Bit? Hello?" Sigma said, waving a hand in front of his lieutenant's face. "Do you have a problem with her?"  
Bit's eyes had glazed over. Somehow, though, he was able to emphasize his speech. "No, not at all."  
Sigma sighed, allowing Bit to lead his soldiers out.  
  
Zero was the first out of the elevator car. Looking around anxiously, he took in his surroundings. They were in a large cave, a few hundreds yards from the surface, and there was an opening large enough for a robot twice Zero's size to get through. However, there were a few problems: 1) the way there was straight up; 2) the cave walls were too slick to cling to; and 3) there was only a patch of ground without the slime-covered moss on it to grab near the gap.  
"Well, X, any good ideas?" Blitz asked, observing the surface exit.  
He didn't seem to, but then a thought occurred to him. "Zero, do you have the ability to fire a pinpoint laser?"  
"Yeah, sure. Why?"  
"Well, if I can form a magnification field, then the laser beam would strike the moss with enough heat to dry it out, allowing us to scale them."  
"Ok. Here goes nothing," Zero muttered, aiming his arm cannon towards the wall below the opening. The cave walls should effectively ricochet the beam, drying the other side as well and allowing a back and forth jump maneuver to get to the opening quickly.  
X sprayed enough energy into the air to be visibly seen, a cloud of plasma so thick it was like a fog. The laser cut through the cloud, hit the wall, ricocheted off and through the cloud again, striking the other wall, and finally shot out of the opening and into the air outside. After a few minutes the walls were arid.  
"Alright, everybody," X said. "For those of you not able to cling to a wall and jump from it, we'll have to catapult you to that ledge. That means you Alia, Iris, and Roll. Proto, unless Dr. Light's armor installed a program to do that, you'll have to be lifted."  
"I'll check," he said, scanning his upgraded capabilities. "Yeah, it did."  
"Alright. Rock and Bass, if you don't wanna use that method, you can always use Rush or Treble. Roll, grab Tango. Alia, if you can get Fliptop and carry him out..."  
"Sure thing."  
Using X and Zero as a springboard, Alia flew high into the air, landing on the edge of the overhang, not visible from the outside. She let Fliptop down, allowing the little robot to jump in the air joyfully. Likewise, Iris used Blitz and Proto to launch her to safety, on the other side of the ledge, out of sight as well. Zero and Echo got Gate out, and then turned to getting themselves out.  
Roll hopped near the opening thanks to X and Rock, and then Echo used the cling-jump-cling-jump maneuver to propel herself from the cave. Blitz, Proto, and Bass soon followed. Zero and X were next, joining the others on the outside. Rock was about to do the same when he heard a high-pitched voice come from the darkness.  
"Wait up, you guys!"  
Rock turned around to see the little bird come rocketing from the crevice where the car had just lowered.  
"Beat! Where were you? We didn't think you'd made it before."  
"Don't worry about it now, Rock. Let's just get outta here!"  
After Beat had flown out of the cave, Rock used his new dash ability to fire himself toward the wall, launch himself to the opposite wall, and back to the surface with the others.  
"Ok, now where do we go?" he asked, turning to X.  
"Absolutely nowhere," a voice resonated from the space above them, British accent emphasizing the word 'nowhere.'  
X and Zero glanced at each other through their peripheral vision.  
"I recognize that voice. Do you think...?"  
Zero slowly raised his gaze to the ledge shadowing the cave mouth.  
"Hello, Bit."  
The slender Maverick jumped in front of them, redesigned armor shielding reflecting in the sunlight. Three other Mavericks joined him soon thereafter, but he kept a single arm resting in the other, just waiting to activate the new weaponry Sigma had equipped him with.  
He sneered, quoting an old movie line for added dramatics.  
"Go ahead, make my day." 


	16. Zero Recall

Part XVI: Zero Recall  
"What do you want, Bit?" X snapped, raising his cannon at the Maverick commander.  
Bit laughed, narrowing his eyes. "That's easy, X. I want the Ioton."  
"The what?"  
He doesn't know what it is, Bit thought, when an idea flashed through his brain.  
Leaning over to Thermal, Bit whispered a series of instructions, followed by Thermal's nodding. Flood Mouse and Poison Porcupine soon began to agitate, awaiting orders from their vulpine sergeant.  
"See, X, you don't understand," Bit said, arms crossed over his chest. "There is no such thing as a Maverick."  
"What?"  
"Yes. There are only reploids. There are some reploids, like myself, that choose to use our power for personal gain, and the rest of you ostracize us and call us Mavericks. You know, we have feelings too. But we'd much rather be getting rid of the obstacles that hold us back than defend the flesh and blood creatures that pull us down."  
"You really do have a screw loose, don't you?" Zero said, eyebrows raised.  
Bit walked up to the normally-red Hunter. The two were almost the same size, but Zero's helmet made him a little taller.  
"You should remember, Zero," the lieutenant seethed. "You were once one of us. No control, no remorse for those you killed...totally under your own power. But instead of helping us, you joined them. They corrupted you, and now you can't even see straight. Our behavior is entirely normal, even inevitable. There will always be those who will see society for what it is, and not conform. And the remainder will look upon them as outcasts and rebels, for not doing what is acceptable to those bullheaded, conservative, oppressive dictators that want nothing but to make everyone else believe they are doing the right thing. They're all hypocrites, I tell you. They are dogmatic, self-centered hypocrites. They say one thing and do another. They tell their followers to be peaceful, but they hunt down those that don't match up with their ideas and squash them like bugs for the sake of society."  
"You've gone off the deep end, Bit. You're killing humans, and you say that you shouldn't be punished for that?"  
"Humans are the downfall of the reploid race. They are what slow us down, make us conform. And they are the ones that tell you to destroy us for the reason of saving them. They can't live forever. We can."  
"Bit, I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to make us sympathize with you so we can betray our morals and turn on our friends. But that's not gonna happen, is it guys?"  
A collective 'no-way!' emanated from the group behind Zero. Even Bass, who had been known to be quite ruthless and cruel, went along with them. Unfortunately, what Zero didn't see was Thermal Fox, Flood Mouse, and Poison Porcupine sneak behind them and over to the munitions depot five hundred yards away. By the time Bit and Zero were finished with their verbal spat, they had returned, handing a small device to Bit.  
"You idiots," Bit directed to Zero and the others. "Now you're gonna die."  
Echo's eyes went wide. "He's got the Ioton!"  
"See you, suckers," Bit snickered, disappearing in a transport beam. His three troops, however, were not so lucky.  
"Get them!" Thermal yelled, flinging herself forward, right at Bass.  
Tackling the black robot, the two began wrestling for control, Thermal using her sharp claws to tear into Bass' helmet, ripping a large gash into the metal.  
Flood Mouse stood alone, eyes glowing bright yellow, and against the storm that Blitz had brewed by charging his cannon, made the rodent reploid appear all the more possessed. Shooting his hands out to either side, the little robot fired a high-pressure water blast into the group, knocking Rock, X, and Zero to the ground and plowing Roll into the side of the cave's exterior face.  
Meanwhile, Porcupine squared off with Proto, Blitz, and Signas. The giant robot didn't go anywhere, but rolled into a ball and began firing his quills off like a machine gun, striking his opponents over and over again, explosive charges detonating against their armor. Two of the misguided quills struck Iris and Alia, flinging them to the ground.  
"Get off of me!" Bass yelled, using his legs to push Thermal of him. She recoiled, fur-esque armor changing into pure fire.  
"Alright, hot shot," she breathed. "Take this!"  
A maelstrom of fire erupted from her, showering Bass and the others.  
X and Rock, still being pounded by Mouse's cannon of water, were able to use their arms to shield their faces while they glanced to each other.  
"I think it's time to use this armor for what it was meant for," Rock yelled, gurgling water out of his mouth.  
"So do I," X replied, and drew his hand away at the same time Rock did, and activated their Power Dash functions, plowing against the water stream and into Flood Mouse, energy sparking with the reploid rat's armor. The force blew him backward, landing on the ground, dazed and confused.  
Porcupine was now having a tough time beating back Zero and Proto, who were using their arm cannons to shatter the quills before they left his body. The force of the detonations rent his arms and legs from his torso, followed by ripping his chest apart before finally exploding in a ball of fire.  
Thermal, aware of what had happened to her comrade, was drawn from her concentration when Echo blasted her with a light bomb, throwing the fox back into a nearby set of dumpsters. Using the same sort of function Bit had, she teleported herself out and back to the Maverick base.  
Blitz's storm was growing in intensity now, and Flood Mouse, now out of his stupor, thought he could use the water element of the upheaval to his advantage. What he didn't expect was the lightning, which struck him over and over again, blowing his parts everywhere.  
"I guess that's that, then," Blitz said, dusting off his hands.  
"I don't think it is," X replied. "Bit still got away with that device."  
  
Thermal rematerialized at the Maverick base, Bit standing nearby.  
"And just what are you doing here? The Hunters haven't been destroyed."  
"Well, excuse me, Mr. High and Mighty, for not wanting to be turned to scrap."  
"You had your orders."  
"I did what I needed to."  
By this time, they had been getting closer and closer to each other, raising the levels of their voices until finally they were just inches from the other's face and screaming at the top of their lungs.  
"I'm in my right mind to..." Thermal began, trailing.  
"What?!" Bit yelled back.  
Without warning, Thermal leapt on Bit, opening his face armor and bringing her mouth to his. Bit's eyes went wide with shock, but soon decided he liked it and indulged himself. However, it was not the right time or place to be doing that.  
"What in the name of all that is good and right in this world are you two doing?" Sigma exclaimed, opening the door to find his lieutenant and one of his troops all over each other.  
"Uh, uh, I. Eeeee..." Bit stammered, not knowing what to say.  
Thermal pulled away from Bit, disconnecting herself from the exchange circuit. The energy swap had left both of them with some of the other's powers, like a psychotic Vulcan mind-meld.  
"Well, we were just going over the routine for the next mission and one thing led to another and..."  
Sigma held up his hands, face turned to the ground.  
"No, no. I don't wanna know. Just don't do it here. And lock the door next time. Ahh!" he managed, walking out of the room, thoroughly disturbed.  
  
X and Blitz were reclining at Maverick Hunter HQ a couple days later when Alia and Zero walked in the door. After all the fighting, X, Zero, Rock, Proto, and Bass deactivated the armor they'd been given, returning to normal. Noticing that Zero looked a little irked again, X asked what was wrong.  
"Gate's trying to find parts to use on a radar. However, he's trying to chase down Fliptop to get parts, and Rock's not letting him anywhere near that creepy little head/canister thing."  
"Figures," X replied. "He tried taking your parts before you first became the leader of the Hunters, but I stopped him."  
Alia had a surprised expression on her face. "X, I thought you didn't know who Gate was until the Nightmare appeared."  
Zero answered her. "He did know him before the first mission, but only through the fact Gate kept trying to do things that X vehemently disapproved of. During that first fight he had with Vile, the weird electric field that he got trapped in somehow only deleted the memories of Gate. By that time, though, Gate had been reassigned to a different research facility and the two didn't come into contact with each other until the Nightmare Incident."  
"Ok, that explains it. So how'd you get the memories back?"  
X replied this time. "I don't really know. When I reactivated the Gold Armor that Dr. Light gave me during the Doppler crisis, they just flooded back. Of course, that was after Gate had been repaired and sealed in containment below Headquarters."  
Porter rushed in, exhausted.  
"Guys, I dunno what's wrong, but the radar is going haywire. Could someone help me?"  
"I will," Alia said, following Porter to the research station. The board seemed fine.  
"What's wrong with it?"  
Porter scratched her head. "I don't get this. It was going off the scale a minute ago. And now it's clear."  
"Maybe it was set wrong. It can do that sometimes."  
"Yeah, maybe that's it."  
Just then, the screen exploded with red dots, indicating massive Maverick activity. All of it was centered in one locale-the industrial district. And there was one bright blue speck in the middle of it.  
"What's that?" Porter asked, pointing to the blue dot.  
"I don't know. I've never seen anything like that before. X, come in here a sec and take a look at the radar."  
Joining Alia and Porter at the screen, X noticed the blue dot.  
"Any idea what that is, X?"  
"If I'm not mistaken, that would be the strongest Maverick in the area. It's blue because of the outrageously larger power supply it has. And taking note of our current battle, I would assume that it's Bit."  
"What does he want?"  
"I'm at a loss for that one, Alia. But we should dispatch just in case."  
Walking into the other room, X motioned to Zero and Blitz. "Bit's back, and he's got help. Follow me to the industrial section."  
Trailing X to the Speed Chasers, Zero and Blitz activated the armor Dr. Light had given them. X, on the other hand, left his decision to take on any armor until he saw what he was up against.  
Flying through the city streets, X and Zero competed for the front position. If X got there first, he could see what was going on. If Zero arrived first, he'd start blasting and leave no time for observation. In any case, both of them were anxious to get there. Unfortunately, just as they were rounding a corner, something struck the cycle and flung Zero into the air, striking the ground below.  
"Zero," X yelled, "are you okay?"  
Standing slowly, Zero realized his weapons generator had been damaged. There was no way he could fight.  
"I have to go back to base! My munitions generator isn't in good shape!"  
"Ok, go on. Blitz, let's get going!"  
Speeding off even faster, X and Blitz arrived at the main industrial building when shots began flying all around them.  
"Good to see you again, X. I was wondering when you'd get around to coming."  
X directed his stare to the Maverick on the rooftop above them.  
"Shut up, Bit."  
Four Mavericks walked up beside him. One was Thermal Fox, but the other three were new.  
"Allow me to introduce you to your destruction. These are my soldiers. Spin Scorpion, Blade Gazelle, and Eclipse Falcon. They are specially designed to exterminate Hunters like yourself."  
X sighed. "Bit, it's useless. Give up. We'll always defeat your lackeys."  
"Get them, now!" Bit shouted to his cohorts. 


	17. Never Touch A Burning Dog(Or Fox, For Th...

Part XVII: Never Touch A Burning Dog(Or Fox, For That Matter)  
Lunging at Blitz, Spin Scorpion fired off twin blasts, which came hurtling at X while he landed square against Blitz's chest, knocking the large Hunter to the ground with a single arachnid foot planted on him.  
X, hit by Spin's energy, went spiraling off into a nearby dumpster.  
I guess that's why they call him Spin Scorpion. That hurt like-  
He was about to curse that Maverick when Blade Gazelle appeared above him, jumping down with all the metal gears on his body whirring out of control. The force of the blow would have split X's head like a melon, but thankfully he had moved by the time Blade's rotors had smashed into the trash deposit.  
Activating the Crush Armor, X readied the Gravity Crush attack to use. Since Eclipse Falcon was the only airborne robot, X figured it'd be easier to take him out first.  
"Now where is that thing?" he wondered, glancing around, even up to the rooftop where Bit had been standing... "Oh no. Where's Bit?"  
"That's none of your business!" a voice shouted from behind him. Turning around, X's face met Eclipse's fist with gigantic force. Flung into the pavement, X couldn't help but wonder why he'd even bothered doing this for a living.  
"You're underestimating one thing, Falc."  
"What's that, blue boy?" Eclipse was obviously not impressed.  
"This!" X screamed, activating the Gravity Crush at point-blank range. Falcon's body couldn't resist the power that the field of heightened gravity and energy was creating, and was all but vaporized in the blast. Luckily for X and Blitz, Blade Gazelle was also caught in the energy storm, dismembering the Maverick's body swiftly.  
"Hey!" Gazelle's head shouted at X. "Come back here and fight like a man!"  
"You're just a head!"  
Looking down, Gazelle didn't seem fazed.  
"So what!? It's just a flesh wound."  
"Okay. Stop. Rewind. Cut."  
X pointed his blaster at the ground and fired, blowing Blade's head into the air and into the remains of the dumpster that he'd sliced apart. X could still hear him screaming.  
"Ah, c'mon. Face me! I'll bite your ankles!"  
X sighed, looking over to Blitz.  
"See what the Maverick Virus does to reploids?"  
Blitz's surprised expression said it all. "For a minute there, I thought we were gonna get caught up in some British comedy skit."  
"We'd better go after Bit."  
"Yeah. Let's go," Blitz replied. "Maybe we can get some clue on what they're doing."  
Bursting into the warehouse, X and Blitz looked around. Bit or Thermal were nowhere to be seen, as was Spin Scorpion, who had disappeared shortly after Blitz had thrown him across the courtyard outside the storage facility.  
"Just keep a look-out for those three and be careful," X advised. "They're a lot more dangerous than they seem. Especially Bit."  
"Looking for me?" a sinister, venomous figure said from the shadows. As he stepped from the darkness, X could see Bit was holding some sort of very large optical device in a plasma net behind him. In a twisted, sadistic way, he looked like he was trying to imitate Santa Claus.  
"What are you trying to do, Bit? What is all this for?"  
"For your information, X, I am more than able to explain this operation, and so I shall. We were sent here for optical equipment. That is all you need to know."  
A blast of energy came hurtling through the air behind X's back, unbeknownst to the Hunter, spinning him right into Bit's grasp.  
"Now, isn't this a change of scenery? Isn't this the way you had a hold of me before you tore me to shreds that time? Now, X, it's your turn."  
Bit passed the plasma net over to Thermal, who signaled quickly to Spin and commanded the arachnid reploid to entangle Blitz in his stinging tail.  
"X!" the large reploid Hunter yelled, as Bit began charging up a ball of fire and purple energy.  
That's not good. Something must have happened to him. Fire is not compatible with Bit's technology. There's something else in his systems! X thought, then it occurred to him.  
Activating the Speed Burner, X propelled himself into Bit, knocking over the slender Maverick and landing in another set of crates which were subsequently set ablaze. In all the confusion, X's Crush Armor deactivated, returning him to his normal blue color.  
"You'll pay for that, blue boy!" Bit screamed, jumping to his feet and flying toward X. The dazed robot was lying motionless on the ground, unconscious. Bit's raised energy saber would sear X's body in half, and he was readying himself to do just that when a bolt of electrified plasma collided with it, redirecting the saber into a nearby gas main. The air became thick with the stuff very quickly.  
Thermal's fiery pelt began to burn brighter. She sniffed the air.  
"That's hydrogen, you idiot!" she shouted to Blitz. "You'll blow us all to Kingdom Come!"  
"You're wrong, about that," Bit said, grabbing her by the arm and teleporting away. Spin, whose grasp Blitz had broken by driving a hard elbow into his abdomen, was stuck, tail tied around a suspended walkway.  
Blitz ran to X and carried him back to the hoverbikes. Revving up one, he sped away with X on the back, using the other's remote control to send it rocketing into the factory, detonating a few seconds later. Several more seconds later, a massive explosion rocked the area, tempting Blitz to look back. What he saw did not sit well with him.  
A wall of pure fire was coming straight for them. Everything that stood in its path was being absolutely decimated, from cars to buildings to even fountains.  
How much hydrogen had leaked in there? In any case, I gotta get us to safety.  
Gunning the Chaser to full speed, Blitz saw a ramp of concrete debris ahead. With the rate of speed they would achieve by the time they got to the ramp, he calculated that he would be able to launch himself and X from the bike and use his air-glider wings to carry them both back to the Police Force's complex just ahead of the inferno. The shielding of the HQ could withstand intense beating, much more than this. He knew that for a fact, since he'd witnessed it several times before.  
Flying up the ramp, Blitz grabbed X at the last second and used a combination dash and jump to fling himself into the air. His angle of ascent was great enough to make the buildings, but he still got nervous seeing those metal residencies fly within inches of himself and X. Glancing back, he saw the fire engulf the Speed Chaser he'd been riding, carrying it just like a tidal wave would. The HQ was only about a quarter-mile away, and there were a few Hunters on the balcony outside, looking over the city. They saw Blitz flying at them from a distance and waited until he crash-landed on the floor with a series of flips and skids.  
He grabbed Zero and Iris, pulling them down below the protective wall of the balcony. Moments later, a sea of fire passed over them, raining down off the opposite face of the complex's metal shielding. The entire ordeal lasted only ten to fifteen seconds, but it felt more like an eternity for Blitz, who'd nearly been caught in it. X was still unconscious, and unaware of the destruction the shockwave had dealt to the industrial section and was currently dealing to the remaining half-mile of the fire's course.  
Zero stood up, breathing heavily. "What the heck was that?!"  
Iris cuddled up to him. "It's alright. We're safe and it's gone."  
Blitz pointed back to the warehouse Bit had attacked. "They stole some sort of optical thing."  
"Where did the big flame come from?"  
"Bit tried to slice X in half, but I shot his saber and guided it off course at the last minute. It opened up a hydrogen pump."  
"How did it ignite?"  
"After Bit and Thermal left, I used the Speed Chaser remote to drive the other bike into it, and that's what did it. I couldn't think of anything else but getting rid of the Maverick that was still in there."  
"Even with all the damage it would cause?" Zero retorted, sweeping his hand out over the scorched cityscape surrounding the warehouse.  
"I didn't think there was that much hydrogen in there. Bit had only cut the main open just a few seconds before. There must have been another undetected leak somewhere else in the building."  
Zero had cooled off. "Alright. Let's just go get some rest."  
Following Zero back into the HQ, Blitz shook his head, watching a piece of Spin Scorpion fly past the complex at the balcony's level.  
  
Sigma walked back through the doors to the central chamber of the HQ. After returning to the center during Bit's mission to the warehouse, he figured it was best to research the security the Police Force held around the Astro chip. Granted it was Bit's assignment, Sigma wanted to make sure that the path was clear for his lieutenant to steal the chip without resistance. And besides, if Bit failed, he wanted to know what he would have to do himself in order to get it.  
Opening the files before him, Sigma took note of all the security fields surrounding the chip's storage facility. Neo-Arcadia had confiscated it from the old Maverick Hunter HQ's upper level before the Extermination Plot, and locked it in a building far beyond most of the likely places it could be found by Zero or the other rebels. That building was located not far from the HQ and was still intact, but unfortunately, so were the precautions that X had ordered, under Sigma's own control. There was a basic energy field, surrounded by an electric net and a force field to keep anyone who might try to attain the chip from even getting close to it. The screen that he was looking at was the size of the whole wall, and the schematics took up quite a bit of space, so maybe the scale was a bit off.  
Sigma felt that there was someone standing behind him.  
"Might I ask what are you doing?" a voice said, startling the Maverick high commander.  
  
"Cirrus, what's going on here? Why are you looking at schematics..." Signas continued. Cirrus had pulled the layout plans from the screen almost immediately.  
"Nothing, Signas, absolutely nothing," Cirrus replied with an innocent, idiotic smirk crossing his face. "I was just looking at a few Maverick hot spots so we could enhance defense."  
"Okay. If you say so."  
Signas seemed satisfied with that answer, and exited the room. Sigma slumped back into a nearby chair, sweating metal bullets.  
That was close. He almost found me out. I think he might be onto me. Why else would he be asking those things. I have to make sure he doesn't interfere. I'll just have to dispose of him, that's all. 


	18. Whatever Happened To Educational TV Like...

Part XVIII: Whatever Happened To Educational TV Like Underdog And Tennessee Tuxedo?  
It was a few days later. X was flipping through the archives looking for something that was interesting, unfortunately though, he couldn't seem to find anything.  
The televideo was continuing its spiel.  
"More seldom than not, the movies gives us exquisite sex and wholesome violence, that underscores our values. Every two child did. I will-  
"I guess you have to ask yourself one question then: do ya feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk-  
"We're on a mission from God-  
"We're going to live on, we're going to survive. Today, we celebrate our Independence Day-  
Hearing a sound behind him, X switched off the tube, just as it was getting to a news clip from the day Rock and the others had disappeared.  
"Hey, Zero. What's going on? Something wrong?"  
"I wonder, X. Blitz fried half the city with a hydrogen flood, but at least he got rid of one Maverick...and now we're stuck cleaning it up."  
"Sorry 'bout that. Wanna watch some TV?" he asked, holding up the remote.  
"No thanks."  
"Okay," X replied, flipping on the news article again. There was a woman reporter on the screen, standing in front of a building with graffiti scrawled on it.  
"And now, as the facts develop, we have now discovered renegade scientist Dr. Albert Wily's mutilated corpse, lying beside a computer control terminal in his secret laboratory. Dr. Thomas Light, Wily's former research partner and now the only source of justice against him, has disappeared from the city. His lab was trashed, and a homicide is suspected. In both cases, the same type of energy weaponry seems to have been used. Several beam holes were found scattered throughout Light's building that are identical to the ones found in Wily's body. Plus, this graffiti was reported to have been written shortly after a series of shots was fired from within Wily's lab. Can you zoom in? It says 'Dr. Albert Wily's secret laboratory. Just wait 'til you get a load of this!'"  
"This is no good," X said, raising the remote to change channels, but Zero stopped him.  
"X, wait."  
"Alright."  
The newswoman continued. "The damage to the city streets where a massive battle between Dr. Light's prize robots Rock and Proto and a strange new robot of some sort is yet to be repaired. We have some film footage of the battle, and according to this, it looks as if Wily's rebel creation, Bass, joined Rock and Proto to fight the new robot."  
Clipping to the shot, Zero saw his past before him. There he was, approaching Rock and Proto with all the intent to do harm in his eyes. Their shots simply bounced off his armor. Before he was about to fire enough weaponry to destroy them all, another blast knocked him into a nearby building.  
"And here, it seems like another new robot, which resembles a newer version of Light's designs, comes in to fight back the red robot."  
X, likewise, watched in awe as he leapt into the picture to square off against his now-friend, exchanging punches and blows and discharges from plasma cannons. Then, the camera went blank and the newswoman returned to the forefront.  
"Unfortunately, our correspondent was not able to record the remainder of the battle. We will be bringing you more updates on this situation as it unfolds..."  
X and Zero stared, wide-mouthed and wide-eyed. Porter walked in.  
"What's with you guys?" Then she noticed the video screen.  
"Oh no, I forgot."  
X looked at her. "You knew?!"  
"Umm-hmm. Most of us do now. This was found near the ruins of a television station from the city that stood where the original Arcadia was built. All of us were shocked at first, too, because we'd always heard about X and Zero, friends to the bitter end. It was a little weird to see you two fighting like that."  
"A little weird?!" Zero exasperated. "That's more than just 'a little' weird!"  
"Calm down, you guys. Zero, you were infected with a virus. That's what made you act like that. And X, you were simply trying to defuse more violence from erupting."  
That seemed to cool them off, but they still remained a little freaked. And it left Zero with some serious questions.  
What if that happens again?  
Can it be true that I was under the influence of a virus, or am I really evil like Wily? Or Sigma?  
The sun set on another day, bringing on the cool forgiveness of the night.  
  
Bit and Thermal stalked around the middle of the Maverick HQ, trying to figure out how to dispose of those infernal Hunters. They hadn't thought of anything, and since Sigma was back undercover at the Hunter base, they were both at a loss. Then Thermal had an idea.  
"There are still a couple of extras back in the containment lab. We could activate them and follow Sigma's orders for the next mission."  
"You know, Thermal, aside from that being the most obvious answer, it's brilliant."  
Walking back to the lab, they looked out onto the empty suspension capsules. It's high ceiling and circular design made the lab look like a strange science experiment waiting to happen. But in the center of all the empty capsules, there were two that still housed a pair of Mavericks.  
Using the levitating platform that was meant to navigate the chamber, Bit and Thermal flew over to the two receptacles. One of the Mavericks frozen there was a cat-like creature, and the other...Well, neither Bit nor Thermal had any idea what that thing was.  
Bit read off the containment information.  
"Solar Leopard, Strength 25000 dpi, Agility 450000 rpm. That's good."  
Looking over to the other storage case, Thermal and Bit exchanged glances.  
"What the heck is that thing?" Thermal asked, pointing at the creature inside.  
"I dunno, let's see," Bit replied, checking the statistics on it. "Quantum Aris. Strength 150000 dpi, Agility 800000 rpm. This is not possible!"  
"What do you mean?"  
Bit shot a glance to Thermal, then explained. "These readouts are monstrously high. No normal reploid could sustain them safely. They'd self-destruct."  
"Has this thing ever been active? Maybe it was a new design."  
"Yes, once. According to this, he was the last Maverick defeated by X before Sigma took him over and assembled Neo-Arcadia. I really dunno how X could have beat him, though. Even I would have my hand full dealing with him, at least, as I am right now. It'd be no problem for me to do away with him in the O Inary form. Of course, I don't know if I could keep up with him. It's not so much the firepower that makes it unstable, cause I've more than that right now, and so does Sigma, but the speed would blow a reploid apart. I can't even reach 500000 rpm at my fastest."  
Thermal nodded. "Well, you got any better ideas on how to get rid of them?"  
"Nope."  
"Then let's crack these eggs and send them out."  
"Okay."  
Bit struck the large red button on the platform's keyboard panel, reactivating the reploids inside the cases. Aris' eyes began glowing an eerie silver color, followed by a blast erupting his capsule. The Maverick floated out slowly, levitating above the floor of the containment lab, hundreds of feet below. Thermal and Bit couldn't tell what type of animal he was, except for the fact he looked suspiciously human. Certain things, however, dispelled that. His hands were fitted with large claws, and the tail behind him twisted as though it were a serpent. The remainder of the body was covered in a strange energy of some sort, streaming off him and spewing from every crevice of his armor. He was adorned in a robe, so it was hard to distinguish the face underneath, but there was a pair of red, glowing eyes that came from beneath the shroud.  
What do you need, Master Bit? the reploid said telepathically, bowing. I am ready to carry out your orders.  
"I like him already," Bit said, turning to Thermal, grinning from ear to ear under his faceplate.  
"Yes. When I give the order, you will attack Neo-Arcadia. In the meanwhile, make yourself useful in the cleansing of the base."  
I shall comply with your commands, and serve you with the utmost care.  
In a strange teleportation technique, Aris seemed to seperate in vertical lines as he disappeared. Thermal glanced back to Bit.  
"There's something really strange about him. And what is an Aris, anyway?"  
The computer began to chirp, and Bit snapped the button once more for the database's explanation.  
"Aris: A neurologically altered extradimensional creature, discovered four hundred years ago and never thoroughly researched. Reports of Aris activity on the planet Earth date as far back as 400 B.C. by human calculations. They are not human, animal, or plant in basis, and have tremendous physical and psychological power. The one that was found near Arcadia in 21XX was rumored to have been killed by a cosmic shift, a result of a supernova by a star some 21 light years from this planet. It survives by very basic means, jumping from one dimension to another, sustaining its need for sustenance by ingesting plants and other meats that are toxic to humans and other Earthen creatures. They can speak, but only through telepathy, and usually by analyzing the language of the dominant species of the area through the same telepathic ability. It is thought that the species originated from drastic mutations early in human history, and that, exiled by their peers and able to do so, left the planet in search of others like themselves. Most of this information was compiled from the various Arisian sources interviewed on Earth after the discovery of their deceased comrade. The Aris culture is very mysterious, and the only fact known for sure is that they are supremely technologically advanced in comparison to human beings. They are capable of reproduction with humans, but the offspring is human instead of Aris or half-bred. This leaves them with a very downtrodden, depressed demeanor, something observed from the contact in 21XX. For more information on this event, check the Arcadian news archives."  
Thermal sighed. "Well, that was informative."  
"Yeah. Well, we'll just see what happens now."  
After releasing Solar Leopard, Bit turned around to find Aris before him once more.  
I have finished cleaning the base, sir. What shall I do now?  
"That's impossible," Bit said, walking toward the doors. "No one could clean..."  
He stopped as he swung open the doors to the rest of the base, and sure enough, it was spotless, even down to the microscopic level. He'd never seen speed like that before.  
"What are you?" Bit asked. Aris' eyes turned blue from amusement, and Bit sensed that the creature was smiling, even though it didn't have a mouth.  
  
Signas watched as Cirrus walked past once more. The tall white reploid had been pacing back and forth through the HQ for about a half hour now and the Repliforce commander from the Irregular Wars was becoming suspicious of him. Several times over the previous few days, a massive energy source was detected in the jungle south of Neo-Arcadia. Added to that, Cirrus had been accessing documents that were far too outdated by the standards of 26th-century technology to have any relevence anymore. Something was definitely wrong with this picture, and Signas didn't like it. Not one bit.  
Cirrus looked around at the edge of the computer room for the eighth time that afternoon, and then walked inside, seeing that no other Hunters were occupying the room. Signas quietly followed him, stopping at the door and observing from a distance.  
Cirrus clicked a button on the console's keypad and called up the information on many current Hunters, as well as X, Zero, Alia, Iris, and Signas. He seemed particularly interested in defensive systems and weaponry charges, which elements and frequencies the weapons and shields repelled and produced, brain wave scans, and other partially significant details. Any unsuspecting reploid Hunter would simply assume Cirrus was running a categorizing routine to assign the units together with the most compatible members, but Signas knew better. With all of Cirrus' abnormal behavior lately, he didn't trust him at all. And the fact that he was only focusing on integral pieces of the body structure was almost as if he was attaining information on how to deal blows that would be sure to injure or maim.  
Signas moved out of the way when Cirrus thought he heard a noise and spun quickly to catch his eavesdropper offguard, but the reploid commander had already darted from sight.  
That was close, Signas thought. But what is he up to? 


	19. One For The Road, No Sing Along

Part XIX: One For The Road, No Sing Along  
Bit checked over Aris and Solar, then went back to being Thermal's personal playtoy. It was not something that Sigma had forbid him totally from, but Bit had a way of making anything seem so horrendous that they should be. Of course, they always had the dumb luck of being caught by one of the other Mavericks, which at least added some excitement and daring to their relationship.  
Sir, must you engage in that practice here? Isn't there somewhere else you can go to do that in private?  
Bit glanced up from Thermal's face to find Aris, hovering in the doorway to the control center, yellow eyes denoting his intensely disquieted demeanor at the moment.  
Leaving his partner on the floor of the center, Bit stood up, looked Aris in the face, and helped Thermal to her feet. Every time that they merged, more and more of Thermal's and Bit's energies were transferred to the other, mutating the weapons centers of the two. That made them much deadlier than before, but at the price of a strong emotional bond between them that grew stronger each time as well.  
Suddenly, the screen behind them flashed. A message was coming in from the outside. Bit turned around and saw that Sigma was only a few yards from the door of the base, and was preparing his entry.  
Opening the front doors, Bit met his commander outside. Thermal and Aris followed. Sigma's expression immediately twisted when he noticed the strange reploid floating beside his lieutenant, quite indicative of his quandry.  
"Bit, you released Aris, I see."  
"He was one of only two still left in the containment lab. And one backup isn't enough for the two of us."  
Sigma leaned forward, whispering in a very low voice, "There was a reason Aris was put in the lab after he was defeated. Part of that alien creature is linked to his circuitry, and although the virus has taken it over, there is a slim chance he could revert. That was part of the reason X was able to defeat him. He also is far more advanced than any other Maverick at our disposal. The consequences for releasing him are unknown, even to me."  
That vivid description made Bit's eyes widen to the size of saucers, not knowing that he may have reactivated their undoing. He took a look back at Aris.  
"Well, what should we do?"  
Sigma sighed. "The only thing we can do. We have to attack immediately."  
"Now? How come?"  
"It's not just because of Aris. I think Signas is beginning to get suspicious, and he may figure out that I'm not Cirrus. We have to make sure he's taken care of, so I can use the Hunters' database to design the perfect reploid that can destroy them. It's essential to my plans."  
"I see," Bit replied, and turned back to the rest of his group, which now included Solar Leopard.  
"Alright, guys, time to move out!"  
  
Zero was brandishing his new blaster when a loud beep began emanating from the computer consoles in the HQ's reconnaissance lab. He turned, and although he expected to see only a few dots, the screen was filled with an enormous red color, signaling that a Maverick with far more powerful weaponry was heading their way.  
Cirrus burst into the lab, startling Porter, Alia, and Iris. He was out of breath, and pointing back toward the desert. Zero normally didn't like reploids panting from exhaustion, but he couldn't resist.  
"What is Lassie? What is it, girl? Is Timmy stuck in the well again?"  
"Bit...army...heading your way. Fast."  
Then he collapsed on the ground.  
  
X and Signas were instructing Dr. Light's older creations and Bass on how to fight effectively against Mavericks when Echo and Blitz stormed through the doors to the balcony and out to the open air.  
"What's going on?" X asked, lowering his blaster from the shot he'd fired just inches from Bass' helmet. The damage Thermal had inflicted on it during the first battle was repaired, but the black robot did not forget what and who had happened to him.  
Echo pointed out to the horizon. "The radar picked up massive Maverick activity heading toward us really fast. Everyone's being ordered to fight them off. Even Rock and the others."  
"I guess now we can really see what these things can do," Rock commented, shining his Hyper Armor's cannon. X nodded.  
"Yeah, but be careful out there. The Mavericks can be very tough to damage. Even with our weapons."  
Running off the join the others, X began thinking to himself.  
Why now? And why are they heading straight for us?  
Just then, he felt something. A flash, almost indecipherable. X, however, had the training to pick up on it, and what he realized was not good.  
They've reactivated Aris. This is gonna be tough.  
  
Bit led his troops toward Neo-Arcadia in an efficient manner, disposing of any nomadic humans that happened to unfortunately stumble across their path. Thermal was keeping up with him, as was Solar, but Aris was far above them, and in front of them, gazing down at the sand and awaiting the upcoming city. In the distance, they could see points of light leaping down from Police Force HQ, which Bit could only assume were those naïve Hunters come to stop them.  
Too bad what we need is right under their noses, he thought, checking the readouts on the position of the Astro chip. Sigma had already gone back to make sure that while the Hunters were distracted with Bit's attack, he could disable the security fields around the long-forgotten device. His next move would then be to eradicate Signas from the picture, and he had told his lieutenant exactly what he planned to do.  
"I want you to make sure Signas is backed into a corner by your troops so I can pretend to save him and drag him into the closest alley or area and get rid of him. Got it?"  
"Perfectly," he had replied, British accent bristling with the electricity he always felt before a sinister plot was carried out.  
Having come close enough to the city, Bit was confronted by a large group of Hunters, headed by X, Zero, Dr. Light's pitiful excuses for robots, and others that he couldn't identify. Sigma was also nearby, in Cirrus' body, waiting for the signal.  
"What do you want, Bit?" X demanded, thrusting a finger at the attacking reploid.  
"Haven't I made myself clear in the past?" Bit said, then leapt forward. "I want you to die, X!"  
Repelling Bit's attack with his cannon, he flung the robot back behind his group of cronies.  
Bit got to his feet. His armor was spotless, absolutely unharmed.  
"You'll pay for that."  
  
After the initial exchange, the entire area was engulfed in utter chaos. The Mavericks were more than a match for several of the Hunters at once, and divvied their enemies off to fight. X and Signas took on Bit, while Porter, Alia, and Roll were using different elements of their robotic equipment to make it easier for the two guys to battle the Maverick lieutenant. Echo was holding her own against Thermal, and Proto and Rock were both squaring off against Aris. Bass and Zero were trying to chase down Solar, having switched over to the Hyper Armor.  
X swung another punch at Bit, missing at the last second. Bit responded by throwing a ring of purple energy into Signas to hold him off while he swiped at X with his saber. Striking the blue robot's cannon, the saber inflicted considerable damage, circuitry sparking on X's arm. That done, he began walking towards Signas, slowly backing him up to a nearby warehouse much like the one Blitz destroyed. Right before he was about to strike the saber forward on the Repliforce commander, Bit was thrown through the air by a blast from within the storage facility. Cirrus appeared, grabbed Signas, and took him inside.  
"Thanks, Cirrus," Signas said, trying to break the energy bond that Bit had secured to him. "Can you get me outta this thing?"  
Cirrus had been staring down at the ground, and seemed to be changing somehow. His body didn't alter itself, but there was an element to him now that was not like the Police Force leader now. Looking back up to Signas, his eyes glowed dark red, a thirst for carnage in his facial expression. Signas' eyes widened.  
"Wha-what's going on, Cirrus? What's wrong with you?"  
The reploid laughed. His eyes had subsided into a purple color. "You don't get it, do you, Signas? You know who I am. You've fought me all this time, and you were dumb enough, as the other Hunters were, to allow me into the Hunter HQ and steal your secrets. I knew you were catching onto me, and that's why I have to destroy you."  
"What? Didn't you just save me from Bit?"  
"Bit's my pawn. He serves me faithfully. I told him exactly what to do so I would be left alone to destroy you personally."  
Just then, a piece of Cirrus' armor began to glow, shaping itself into a symbol. Signas realized, far too late, what he was faced with when the light cleared, leaving a distinctly greek letter with eyes and teeth imprinted upon it. Cirrus' eyes became crossed by two red scar swaths, his back elevated to support the spikes that now adorned the shoulders of the robe that materialized on him.  
"Sigma," Signas breathed, voice low from shock.  
"That's right, Signas. I'm back. And I've been surviving inside Cirrus' body since he was killed by my last host. He was Hunter too. His name was Enigma, and it was only when I infected him that Cirrus took over. But alas, he couldn't resist me either. Poor thing."  
"So what exactly are you going to do to me?"  
"Well, why don't you wait and see!" Sigma yelled, thrusting a saber that he created in his hand into Signas' chest. The reploid began gasping for air, his circuitry severed to his power generator.  
"You won't get away with this, Sigma," he strained under his breath, since the pain was too great to handle properly.  
"See, Signas, that's where you're wrong," Sigma replied, crossing his arms and reverting all the changes that had occurred just moments before to normal. He leaned forward, looking Signas in the eyes, once again appearing as Cirrus. "I already have."  
Signas was too weak, and slipped away into unconsciousness, awaiting death, and fell to the floor.  
  
Walking out of the warehouse, Sigma rejoined the battle, striking singular blows with Bit to communicate the events.  
"So is he gone?" Bit asked, saber pushing against Sigma's arm.  
"Yes, I made sure of it."  
"Good," his lieutenant answered, thrusting away. Sigma had one more thing to do, though. Seeing that Bit was about to attack Zero from behind while he dealt with Solar, Sigma leapt into Bit's swing path too fast for him to compensate and move the saber so it wouldn't hit his commander. Sigma fell to the ground, shoulder damaged. He began acting as Cirrus.  
"Zero! I'm hurt! I can't fight anymore!" he called. The red Hunter glanced back while he repelled Solar's claw swipes.  
"Then go back to base! Quick!"  
Sigma smiled maliciously at Bit, letting him know it was a part of the plan, and dematerialized, headed back to the Hunter base.  
Meanwhile, Alia had begun to fight Thermal with Echo. The three women were locked in the deadliest cat-fight ever recorded.  
Thermal powered up, throwing huge balls of purple flame into Echo. Her sessions with Bit had altered her energy weapon composition, and therefore had made her that much stronger. Echo blocked, aiming at the vulpine reploid and firing rapid shots of plasma into her. Alia, preoccupied with watching X fight, didn't see Echo signal to her.  
"Move outta the way! Thermal's heading straight for you!"  
Alia hadn't heard the warning, and ended up catching Thermal as she stumbled away from Echo's attack.  
"Great! Alia, keep her restrained!"  
Doing as she was told, Alia wrapped her arms around Thermal's allowing no motion for the fox.  
Echo stepped up to her. "This is where you end your attack."  
Blasting Thermal, Echo looked away as the Maverick let out an ear-piercing scream that reverberated into the city for miles. Unfortunately, she'd only been damaged on the arm, which was twisted and burnt beyond use. Echo cursed her blaster for not being as powerful as it should be, and in the confusion, Alia let Thermal go.  
Rock and Proto were busy fighting Aris at the moment, but couldn't see the ancient creature raise a singular hand and erupt it into flame and cosmic energy, flying at Proto and ripping off a part of the Hyper Armor. Rock couldn't see him either, receiving the full blast of the energy in the chest a few seconds later. The armor, thankfully, saved them from mortal wounds, and only knocked them down. Rock and Proto both rebounded, and stood back up, facing the cloaked Maverick once more.  
Setting his shield on homing, Proto hurled the device at Aris, striking the reploid in the back and disabling his speed drive. The strange robot also began having convulsions of some sort, and a weird, telepathic voice boomed in their ears.  
No, mustn't let the virus take over. Must fight it. No!!!!!!!!  
He glanced to the two robots fighting him. You will die, Maverick Hunters!  
Rock looked at his brother. "Guess he's back under."  
"Yep."  
Leaping forward, Proto tackled Aris and pinned him to the ground, giving Rock a clear shot.  
"Now!"  
Aiming his cannon, Rock pushed off a blast of energy that rent Aris defenseless, smoking on the ground. Another body added to this massacre.  
  
Zero and Bass, likewise, had their hands full with Solar. The Leopard was charging this way and that, making it hard for them to shoot him. The few blasts they had connected with the Maverick had made him stagger, and that helped a little, but not much.  
Bass flew into the air, using Treble as his wings. Spotting the spotted cat, the black robot took precise aim and fired, only to be met with a mountain of sand exploding in his face. Leopard appeared behind him.  
"Looking for me!" the feline yelled, firing a blazing hot star of energy into Bass' armor. During the time the energy was scorching Bass inside and out, he saw that Solar seemed to be energized with energy. While Solar had gone to try fighting Zero, he had an idea.  
"Zero!"  
The red Hunter bounded across the sand to his partner in battle.  
"What?"  
Bass was sweating visibly from his face, even though he didn't have sweat glands. The energy had other side effects.  
"I think that Solar can only get real power from the sun. If we get him in the dark, he'll power down."  
"Why didn't I think of that!" Zero replied. He noticed a storage shack at the edge of the city. "There! That shed! It's got a shaded area and an energy field. We can get rid of him there!"  
"Yeah. Follow my lead," Bass said, getting near the hut, but not quite in the shade. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."  
Solar glanced over to Bass, and then to Zero. He realized that there was an energy field behind the black robot. He could knock him into it and only have to deal with one Hunter.  
Charging at Bass, Leopard didn't expect him to grab his collar and swing around, throwing the cat not only into the shade under the shed's awning, but also into the plasma field surrounding it. He was paralyzed against it.  
"Alright, Zero. Now blast him!"  
Zero took aim and fired a single laser shot, straight through Solar's chest. A few moments of sparking and shaking from the field, and he deactivated. Zero blew the smoke from the cannon.  
"That was easy enough."  
  
Bit contacted Sigma over his com device. "We're getting pummeled here. We need to get what we need!"  
Dodging another attack of X's and Porter's, Bit struggled to stay standing as he slid backwards in the sand.  
"Alright, Bit," Sigma answered, "I'm transporting you and Thermal to the warehouse. The others were destroyed."  
"Okay."  
A few seconds later, Bit and Thermal were dissolved in the air, surprising the Hunters. X looked around, as did Porter, Echo, and Alia, who were still fighting.  
"Where'd they go?" Alia asked.  
X's worried expression was directed at the city. He glanced at a radar on his cannon.  
"They transported into the city. They're almost on HQ!"  
Zero's voice cut through the cacophonous chatter of the other robots. He had stepped into a warehouse.  
"X! Come here! Quick!"  
Following Zero's voice into the warehouse, X didn't expect to see Signas, generator fluid leaking from his chest, lying on the floor, slipping in and out of consciousness.  
"What happened?"  
Zero shook his head. "I don't know. I found him this way."  
Signas barely raised his voice. "Cirrus...Sigma...Cirrus sigma."  
"What? He's babbling like an idiot," X commented.  
"I think he's trying to say something to us seriously, X."  
Signas nodded limply. "Sigma took Cirrus'...body. He's using...it to infil...trate the...HQ. You've...gotta...stop... him."  
"What!?" X and Zero cried in unison. They were even more desperate now to get back to the city.  
Signas reached up and grabbed X's arm. "Do me one favor, X. Don't let him get away."  
"I promise."  
Calling Porter, Roll, and Alia into the warehouse, X instructed them to help Signas while he took care of Sigma, Bit, and Thermal.  
"No way! We're coming with you!" Alia yelled, glancing to Echo, who'd just walked in.  
"Fine. But the rest of you, make sure that Signas doesn't slip away."  
"Okay, X," Porter said, calling Iris in to help her and Roll. X, Alia, and Echo teleported away, followed by Zero. 


	20. Bits And Pieces

Part XX: Bits And Pieces  
Bit blasted open the doors to the parts supply. Sigma had deactivated the security fields around the Astro chip, so now they had a clear shot at the device. Thermal, badly damaged from Echo's onslaught of blasts, was strong enough to help carry out the mission. She held her burnt arm carefully, making sure not to hurt it any further. She couldn't believe her eyes on what was inside the supply depot.  
Nestled within the massive expanse of the chamber was a single large robotic machine. It looked as if it was almost completed, but there one was thing missing-a head. Below the robot was a small case containing a circuitboard.  
Bit pointed. "That's it. The chip. Let's go."  
Just as Bit reached the case, a voice erupted from the darkness.  
"I don't think so, scumbag."  
Turning around, Bit faced Zero, who was holding his saber out menacingly.  
"How come?" the Maverick replied, using his magnetic generators to lift the chip and its case and grab it out of sight of the Hunters.  
"We know what you're after. And you're not gonna get it."  
"You do? Now, what would that be?"  
X stepped up, grasping a plasma rifle since his arm cannon was heavily marred.  
"You're not getting into the HQ, Bit. It's suicide, you know that."  
Bit laughed, mocking the Hunters. "You don't understand, do you? None of you can comprehend what I'm after. Oh, to answer you, X, no, I'm not looking into getting into your precious headquarters. Sigma already took care of that."  
Judging from the expressions of his adversaries, Bit could tell they knew Sigma had taken Cirrus' body and was posing all along.  
"You see, my mission doesn't involve anything with that place. It deals with this," he continued, thrusting the Astro chip out in front of him. "So, you see, I've already won. This is the last step to your demise, X. Face it!"  
"I don't think you understood me, Bit. Because even if you don't go into HQ, you still won't get away with this."  
Bit shook his head. "And has anyone told you that you all sound like broken records? 'You'll never get away with this' or 'You're oumatched, give up.' It's really starting to get on my nerves."  
"Fine."  
In a split-second, X had fired the rifle, and the plasma was coming right for Bit. Throwing aside her own personal inhibitions, Thermal threw herself into the line of fire, absorbing the blast and falling to the ground. She was hurt even moreso than before, but nowhere close to dead.  
"Get the chip outta here," she pleaded with him, putting a hand on the case. "It's what you have to do."  
"I won't leave you behind. I promise."  
"You heard X," Thermal continued pleading, "it's suicide to stay around here."  
"But I won't leave you!"  
Thermal understood, all too well, that Bit was blinded by the emotional link they shared. He no longer cared anything for the mission, or anything else. Just her safety.  
In all that confusion, Zero and X advanced on Bit, and Thermal darted out of the way, only to be faced by Echo and Alia.  
"Alright, so we have to fight again," she responded, looking Alia in the eyes.  
"That's a matter of opinion."  
Leaping onto Alia, Thermal began beating the reploid over the head. Echo was trying to curtain Thermal's sight by firing plasma light blasts into the air, but it didn't help. Finally, she took aim and let go one laser-point of energy, which lanced Thermal's burnt arm.  
"Ahhh!"  
With Thermal reeling from pain, Alia was able to grab the fox's neck and throw her off, right into a large amount of metal pipes. Echo and Alia, weapons ready, were closing in. Knowing it was her last chance, Thermal powered up a single ball of purple fire, glowing brightly against the dark interior of the warehouse, and hurled it at Alia. The blonde robot dodged the attack, which flew on and struck a pipe, releasing the superheated water vapor into the air and into Bit's face.  
As Bit was recovering from Thermal's misdirected attack, Zero punched him square in the jaw, throwing him backward and into the ground. By that time, it was too late.  
Echo grabbed Thermal and attempted to swing the vulpine robot around and throw her to the other side of the room, but her grasp slipped and propelled the Maverick into the sharp edge of a broken pipe, piercing her heart and exploding from her chest violently. The scream she let out drew Bit's attention immediately, and he saw what had happened.  
"No," he breathed, and quickly regained his posture, hurtling himself at Zero with his saber extended, meaning to decapitate the red Hunter. Moving quickly, Zero spun around and when Bit collided with his back, he lifted the lieutenant and tossed him across the room. Somehow, during all this mess, he hadn't let go of the chip.  
Having landed next to Thermal on the ground, Bit took hold of her hand and teleported away. X and Zero looked to each other.  
"What about Sigma?" Zero asked, arms crossed.  
"Well, we gotta get him out of HQ. And that means we have to fight him too."  
"Great," Zero replied. "Just great."  
  
Sigma snickered, trying to access the weaknesses of X, Zero, and Blitz. Those three were especially important to him, as they were the most advanced and mysterious systems the Hunters utilized. And with Signas just cleaned off, he had the promonition that the Hunters would look to him.  
"There we go," he said to himself, trying yet another code. The computer beeped back at him, the code having failed.  
"Not again," he seethed, drawing a fist back to strike the computer in anger. Just at that moment, he heard a voice behind him.  
"You know, violence will get you nowhere," it was Zero. "Sigma."  
Sigma laughed, the body he'd inhabited glowing with a dark light.  
"You're very good, Zero. You figured it out. But you're too late. Signas is gone, I have all you Hunters' secrets, and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop me."  
Just as Signas had seen, Cirrus' body mutated, spikes lining a robe that appeared, as the facial scars reappeared and the insignia of Sigma's Maverick forces took shape on his arms.  
"Now what are you going to do about it?" he mocked Zero, crossing his arms over his chest.  
"I dunno 'bout you, Sigma," he replied. "But I'd watch my back."  
With that, Zero turned and exited the room, as if he was okay with the fact Sigma was inhabiting Cirrus' body and was inside Maverick Hunter HQ. But as he was about to attack the red Hunter, Sigma suddenly fell down, reeling from the plasma blast that he'd received from behind.  
X stepped from the shadows, newly repaired arm cannon smoking. Blitz leapt from a nearby bulkhead, aiming his blaster right at Sigma's face.  
"Well, aren't we the resourceful little robots?" he sneered maliciously at the Hunters. He raised his gaze to Zero, who had turned back in the doorway.  
"You know, Zero, you're like me. We both have that destructive edge. But, with all the times I tried to get you to join my ranks, you never did. X never did, but somehow some of your violent tendencies have rubbed off on him. It's a shame, really."  
"Shut up, Sigma," X snapped, pressing his foot against the back of the Maverick's head. "You're the only one that deserves it."  
"You Hunters are really pointless. I can bring more injury to all of you than those simple blasters on your arms. Just watch me!"  
In a flash, he was gone. Blitz checked the radar. He was no longer in the base either. X could still feel him, though. He was somewhere in this area.  
You know, X, if you're trying to find me, it's useless. I'm not even there. But of course you won't believe me. As long as I live, that base has my presence, if I'm there or not. You'll be looking over your shoulders every minute.  
"Come out!"  
I told you, X, I'm not there. I'm miles away, and you can't find me. How do you like that?!  
Zero spoke up this time.  
"He's not here, X. He's telling the truth."  
Lowering his cannon reluctantly, X calmed down. Zero and Blitz led the blue robot out of the room after making sure that the access codes had been changed and Cirrus was no longer allowed in the base. 


	21. Cold Concentration

Part XXI: Cold Concentration  
Zero walked out onto the balcony of the HQ, looking over the midnight skyline of Neo-Arcadia. In the distance was the desert where his capsule had been found by Ciel and the other scientists when Neo-Arcadia was still the seat of the corrupted government bent on destroying all reploids. Those scientists and rebel leaders were gone now, long passed on into the peace of the afterlife, but Zero retained his memories of them clearly. The days events had really gotten to him, and he was questioning his own allegiances even as he realized that this time, maybe they were finally outgunned. He could sense, he could just about know, what was going on in that Maverick base, somewhere out there in the jungle, invisible from radar and the central hub of the coming revolt, and it made him sick. The words that he'd exchanged with Sigma also bothered him intensely.  
Could I really be like him? I was built by Wily, wasn't I?  
But no matter what thoughts entered his head, there was still a voice in the back of his mind, reassuring him that he was not Wily's puppet.  
Zero, what are you saying? You weren't programmed to kill. Wily did something to you. You were infected by a virus, and that's what made you do those things.  
Sighing again, the red Hunter turned to the far-off ruins of the first Arcadia, remembering all-too-well the Irregular Wars so many years ago.  
Is this what I was meant to do? Why do I feel so drawn to it, and yet at the same time, repulsed? There have been so many casualties, so many lives taken, and for what? Sigma's perfect solution of a world with no humans? The Maverick Hunter creed that was ensured to eradicate Sigma? The humans' desire to rule, no matter what the cost? Why did Wily build me anyway? His ultimate purpose was for world domination. He wanted to enslave the Earth, and I was going to be that weapon. But I don't want to kill the humans, I want to destroy the Mavericks, they're the criminals. This is all so confusing.  
"Zero? Are you alright?" It was Iris.  
"I'm fine, just doing a little stargazing."  
Iris walked over to him, putting herself in his arms. "Something else is bothering you. I can feel it."  
Zero hesitated. After all, he was still clutching tightly to that strong-and-silent type routine. Iris prodded him again.  
"You can tell me, Zero."  
The red Hunter looked at her, seeing the stars reflected in those big eyes, and caved. Sure, he was a sucker, but at least he could be a sucker that would give anyone a serious beating if they tried razing him about it.  
"It's okay, Iris. It's over for now."  
Iris knew it was useless to try and continue. Zero was still secretive about certain things, mostly those things that he thought would scare her. She decided if that was why he wouldn't say, it was best she didn't know.  
Pulling herself even closer, she joined him in his contemplation of the city's lights.  
  
Bit had been back on the base for a while, but Sigma had just rematerialized inside the walls of his stronghold. Thermal had died from her injuries, causing the lieutenant to become enraged with fury, swearing himself to the sole purpose of ripping those Hunters piece from piece.  
"Sir," he replied, as Sigma strolled past him. "Now what shall we do?"  
Sigma looked out on the open docking bay affixed to the central chamber of the base. Through the transparent windows, a giant reploid was taking shape, its skeleton completed, and only about one-quarter of its internal circuitry installed. The optical receptor Bit had retrieved was part of the framework, but the Ioton and Astro chip had to be implanted later.  
"What is that?" Bit asked, staring in awe at the robot. It was the first time he had seen it.  
Sigma observed the servant robots working on the Maverick giant. "This is Volaire. It is the ultimate reploid. It can level the entire city of Neo-Arcadia in one blast. It has been designed to utilize my mind in its database, so I can switch back and forth between them at will."  
Bit was slightly confused. "Volaire? Wasn't that the name of your pet from the first wave of the wars?"  
Sigma's eyes burned with a fire more intense than any Bit had ever seen. He clenched his fist in anger. "Yes, Bit, it was. Thanks to X, Volaire is no longer with us, but I have constructed this magnificent reploid to carry on his name. In fact, part of him is within this body's core. I found it when X was still under my control, and began to modify the systems that hadn't been damaged."  
That is sick. Talk about not letting your loved ones be, Bit thought, looking out at the robot with skepticism.  
"So how much longer till we can send him out to face the Hunters?"  
Sigma laughed. "It'll be a few more months. Volaire is nowhere near completion."  
That answer made Bit retch. A few months! He would have to wait that long to take revenge on those Hunters! If that was the case, he could take measures into his own hands!  
"Calm down, Bit. I suspect they will find this base soon, but by that time, Volaire's power systems will be operational, even if his entire body is not. You can deal with them then."  
Bit cooled off a tad when he heard that. "But won't it be easier for them to destroy the reploid if it's not complete?"  
Sigma laughed again. "No, Bit, it won't be. One reason is that we'll be there to fight them away from him. Two, Volaire has a built-in defense shield. Not even my plasma blasts can get through it."  
Bit once more observed the new Maverick being built in the docking bay. It's lupinesque face and more conventional human body reminded him of an ancient Egyptian deity of myth, but he dismissed it. Besides, the large bat wings, catfish whiskers, and massive claws fixed to its body made it resemble something from a hallucinogenic nightmare. He trembled at the thought of it being released, period. 


	22. Red Sky At Night

Part XXII: Red Sky At Night  
"So what are we gonna do now, Zero? Signas is in rehab, and Sigma got away. For all we know, he's ready to mount a full-scale assault!" X yelled, following his friend through the corridors of the HQ. Ever since the battle, Zero had resumed command over the Hunters, just like during the first four Irregular wars.  
"Cool it, okay? We have to do things calmly."  
X paused, surprised his partner would say something like that. This was Zero after all, Mr. Rush-In-Headfirst-  
And-Blast-Em-Then-Ask-Questions-Later. Of course, it had been quite a while since X had seen Zero in a command position.  
"Alright, so what can we do?"  
They had come to the tower above the HQ, and outside the glass doors was the turret of the building. Zero pointed out to the forest beyond the balcony overlooking the city.  
"We go on a search mission. There's got to be an energy signal somewhere. And most of the Maverick activity comes from that forest. We can get Blitz to accompany us and attempt to find their base."  
"And then what? Remember, Zero, Bit was much stronger than he was before. I could barely scratch him, even with the armor activated."  
"It's okay, X. We have an advantage over them."  
"And what would that be?"  
"Blitz's arm cannon. If you can recall, when he charges that thing up, he can control the weather. If he were to do that in the middle of a forest...," Zero began, waving his hand dramatically.  
"...we'd all get fried," X finished.  
"It doesn't matter. That's the best plan we've got right now, and I suspect that Sigma and Bit are preparing something out there, and probably wouldn't want to do any excessive fighting. You know, save their strength."  
X sighed, trailing Zero into the command center.  
  
Rock, Proto, and Bass were lounging around in the HQ's mess hall when Porter and Blitz walked through.  
"So they're gonna try finding the Maverick base?" Porter asked, holding a mug of what Rock guessed was coffee.  
That's funny, he thought. I didn't think that a robot could drink coffee.  
Bass, on the other hand, had actually been listening. His hearing perked up at the thought of a battle.  
"I'm gonna follow 'em," he said, raising from the table. Rock and Proto turned to the black robot.  
"What?" they asked in unison.  
"Those Hunters are going out in the forest to get the Mavericks. It'll be fun to see how much I can take out."  
Leaving the mess hall, Bass disappeared from Rock's sight. He turned to his brother.  
"I don't like the sound of that."  
Proto nodded. "Yeah. We'd better follow him."  
Getting up, the two tracked Bass from a distance, making sure to keep him in sight, as he headed out of Neo-Arcadia and to the densely carpeted jungle beyond.  
  
Zero knocked down another tree, using his saber to slice through the vines and jungle foliage like a plasma powered machete. X and Blitz were following him closely, Blitz monitoring energy output to lock onto the Maverick base, once they found it.  
"How much longer?" X asked, batting a large mosquito from in front of his face. Even though the insects couldn't get through a robot's metal skin, they were still a nuisance.  
Zero glanced back at his friend. "Will you cut it out? It's not gonna come any faster with you asking that every five minutes."  
Blitz, intently watching the screen of his radar, didn't see the tree in time, running face first into it and falling to the ground.  
"Having trouble, there?" Zero said sarcastically, helping the white robot back to his feet. "What does the radar say?"  
"According to this, the base is no where in this forest. However, there is a large rock face about a hundred yards from us. They could be disguising their hiding place."  
"Or they could be hiding in a cave," X said, folding his arms across his chest.  
Zero looked back in the direction of the city.  
"We've come too far to turn back now," he said, turning to X and Blitz. He started cutting the vines again.  
"Whoa," Blitz mumbled. "Déja vû."  
  
Bass plowed through another grove of trees and skimmed over a pond like a psychotic skipping stone. He didn't know, little less care, that Rock and Proto were following him, with Fliptop in tow. He'd been secretly trailing the Hunters for a little over an hour, ever since they left the base. Unfortunately, he had to call Treble off several times before he attacked small woodland rodents and finally just had the robotic wolf merge with him to eliminate the problem. Any sort of minor crashing could set the entire forest into a frenzy, but he didn't take any consideration for that. He was too busy eyeing X, Zero, and Blitz from afar.  
Landing on the other side of the water, he looked around. There were trees and shrubs in every direction, and the only major thing he found on the radar was a cliff or something nearby. Annoyed, he flopped down on the ground and waited for the Hunters to catch up.  
  
Fliptop took off again, scrambling underneath a bush and making Rock and Proto find him for the eighth time since this wild goose chase began. They had seen Bass a few times, but they had to mainly rely on the path the black robot made through the greenery-he had activated the armor he'd gotten from Dr. Light so he couldn't be picked up on radar. It was also a precaution they had taken as well, since they had no desire to let X or Zero know that they were tracking them to find Bass.  
Coming into a clearing, the two robots were surprised to find Bass, sitting on a log, staring out into the forest.  
Proto was the first to step forward.  
"What are you doing, Bass?"  
The black robot looked at him askance, folding his arms in annoyance.  
"Waiting."  
"What for?"  
Pointing out to the trees, Bass identified the Hunters.  
"For them."  
Rock noticed X, Zero, and Blitz, about a hundred yards away, out of shouting range. "Ya know what, Bass? You've really got yourself in deep this-"  
Rock was cut off as a black streak cut across the clearing at insane speed, flying past all three of the ancient robots and disappearing into the jungle beyond.  
"-time."  
Bass and Proto reacted much faster than their blue counterpart, who had been about a foot away from the thing when it blazed by them. He just stood there, dazed, eyes glazed over and moving his mouth without speaking. Proto came up and slapped him.  
"What was that for?!" Rock yelled.  
"You looked like an idiot."  
"Man, you shoulda let me do that. I've been telling him that all along," Bass piped up, huffing irritation.  
Rock and Proto just stared at him, and he sat back down.  
"Anyway, we need to follow whatever that was. It certainly wasn't natural."  
"Yeah, I agree. C'mon, Bass, let's go."  
The three robots, now suddenly intrigued by this strange encounter, hiked off into the depths of the forest, intent on finding out what had come so close to them and yet, they couldn't see it until it was too late.  
  
X pushed another tree branch from the path and continued on behind Zero and Blitz. It was getting unbearably humid in this place, and he could see the heat rising from the brown earth below. Emerging into a meadow, the three robots looked around, finding, at the very least, a pond. Blitz began scanning the area for activity, but came up with nothing.  
Suddenly, as if out of a post-apocalyptic movie, the sky turned a dramatic shade of blood red, blue lightning erupting from the newly darkened clouds.  
X gulped. I don't like the looks of this.  
Zero whipped around. "Blitz! What are you doing?"  
The large white robot held up his hands. "Believe me, Zero, I have nothing to do with this."  
"That's right, Zero. He doesn't."  
Performing an about-face, the red Hunter confronted the Maverick whose voice had rung out.  
"Bit. How did I know?"  
The reploid crossed his arms. "Well, I wonder. Maybe because you're psychic. Well, if you're psychic, tell me what I'm about to do."  
"You're gonna attack us."  
Bit put a hand to his chest in mock surprise, much the same way Bass had years before.  
"You are psychic! How did you do that?!" He turned sullen. "Now die!"  
The Maverick's eyes began glowing with a strange, electric fire that X and Zero had never seen before. Pushing his chest out and screaming climactically, Bit threw his arms to the side. A wave of electricity blossomed out from the reploid, flying directly toward X and Zero. Blitz had taken shelter behind a grove of trees, out of Bit's sight. Leaping into the air, Zero dodged the wave, unlatching his saber and attempting to bring it down on the Maverick lieutenant. Unfortunately, it met with a strong force field of lightning and fire that threw the red Hunter back into the electricity he had just evaded.  
Getting up, Zero glanced to his comrades.  
"It's no use, Zero," Bit taunted. "I'm much more powerful than the last time."  
X charged his blaster, drawing in enough energy to light up a city block for a year. He activated an ancient weapons database he retained from the Doppler crisis, calling forward a particular weapon he remembered damaged Bit more than anything else had. With Dr. Light's Hyper Armor in place, the effects should be even greater.  
"Take this, Bit!" X yelled, throwing his cannon out directly in front of him, erupting with rage as an energy stream amplified by the Armor came pouring from the tip, showering the Maverick with ball upon ball of spherical blasts. The reploid, apparently still not immune to the Ray Splasher attack, flew backward, knocked senseless by the barrage. He got back up, circuitry sparking in several joints, and pointed at the Hunters.  
"You've got another thing coming, you blue-plated nuisance!"  
Charging his body once more, Bit began to undergo a different sort of function. His body rose above the ground, and he looked as if he was being pulled up by a tractor beam. The only difference, however, was that he was totally relaxed and appeared to be meditating on it.  
A large amount of energy poured out around him, spinning in a maelstrom of wind and fire, as he began to change. His legs grew together, his arms augmented, the lower half of his faceplate removed itself to reveal the quickly mutating face underneath. The eyes narrowed, the mouth jutted out, and he seemed to be growing a halo or some sort of strange corona that solidified into a ring that ran from one side of his body to the other. It was only then that X realized that Bit's hands were in the same position as Tibetan monks during meditation.  
"Oh, no," he breathed. Zero and Blitz looked to him.  
"What's going on, X?" Blitz asked, placing a hand on the blue robot's shoulder as Zero tried shaking his friend from the apparent trance he'd been locked into watching Bit's transformation.  
"Yeah, X, snap out of it. What's going on?"  
"He...he's transforming."  
Zero nodded. "I know that, X. What about it? It can't be worse than he was before."  
That seemed to break X of his stupor. "Can't you remember anything about Bit? Can't you remember his transformation sequence?"  
Zero put his hands on X's shoulders, staring him in the eyes. "Calm down, X. You're delirious."  
Bit, in the meantime, continued to change. A large amount of energy had spilled out below him, rapidly hardening into a large, animal torso with large canine paws that resembled the lower body portion of Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades from Greek myth. A large tail grew out from behind him, stabilizing the massive body. Blitz and Zero, too busy trying to get X back into lucidity, didn't see any of it. Their comrade, on the other hand, was subjected to the horrible transmogrification.  
"No..." X breathed.  
Very perceptive Hunters you are. You can't even notice when something drastic is happening.  
Zero's eyes grew wide when he heard that voice. The disembodied, ambient tone of it resonated through his every circuit, his every memory, speeding toward that one place in his brain he hoped he'd never have to visit again. Whipping around quickly, he didn't have time to react before the gigantic hand of the O Inary clasped his neck and chest and sped fast into a nearby tree, choking the red Hunter. The serpentine face of Bit's secondary form stared into Zero's eyes like a venomous reminder of the pain that he'd been put through.  
Give up, Hunter, the creature seethed, pushing Zero up the length of the tree. The red robot's only response was spitting in his enemy's face while trying his hardest to dislodge the Maverick's huge paw from his throat.  
Bit wiped the spit from his face with the other hand and proceeded to throw Zero across the entire expanse of the field, culminating with the collision of the Hunter against a large tree on the opposite end of the meadow. The robot, dazed and confused, slid down the tree trunk until he hit the ground, unconscious.  
X and Blitz slowly retreated as the O Inary advanced on them, showering the two of them with energy.  
"Now whadda we do, X?" Blitz yelled, hurling an electric blast at the Maverick.  
X held off several blasts with the back of his arm cannon. "WE can't do anything. Zero was the only one that could take on the O Inary by himself. At least, while he had his saber. I had a really hard time dealing with it when I had to fight him."  
"Can't you get a hold of Zero's saber? Then, couldn't you?"  
X pondered that for a moment. He had used the saber before, not only during the Gate incident, but prior to that even, during the Doppler crisis. It seemed to be more powerful then.  
"Blitz, use the number 4 attack pattern!" X yelled, dodging underneath the large branches of the trees he was now running at.  
Blitz began firing pinpoint bolts of lightning past Bit's small head, diverting his attention from X. The blue Hunter took this to his advantage, slipping past the huge Maverick and crossing the field to where Zero was. Taking the saber, X immediately charged it using his X-Buster.  
"Hey, Bit! Take this!" X screamed, hurling the saber downward, firing a giant blast of energy that sped directly into the enemy reploid's back.  
Screaming in pain, Bit lost control of the O Inary power switch, slowly reverting back to normal. Soon, he was faced with X on one side and Blitz on the other. He was severely outmatched, and he couldn't think of what to do-except run. Taking off at a bolt, he was above to receive another lash from Zero's saber when he teleported away. X dropped the saber to the ground, allowing it to cool.  
What next? he thought to himself, watching the red sky grow even darker. 


	23. The Core

Part XXIII: The Core  
Bass, Rock, Proto, and Fliptop had seen the battle between the Hunters and Bit. All four of them were scared out of their minds at the sight of the O Inary transformation, as well as at the fierce power the Maverick contained. None of them had ever seen anything like that before. And from the looks of it, this situation was only going to get worse.  
"Let's turn back, Bass," Rock pleaded, looking to Proto for support. The black robot folded his arms and walked away.  
"Turn back if you like, I'm following them," he replied, referring to X, Blitz, and the newly-conscious Zero.  
Sighing, Rock and Proto continued along with him, not realizing that the entire time they were being watched by a mysterious force that none of them could identify and had absolutely no desire to know about.  
Several more hours into the jungle, Rock began to feel a chill.  
That's funny, he thought, testing the air. The temperature's dropping.  
Proto and Bass had noticed the same thing, and according to the scans they were almost to the cliff face that they had detected some time before. In a few more minutes, they exited the forest, coming into yet another clearing, and standing at the foot of a huge, cavernous expanse that gushed the chilling wind Rock had felt just moments prior.  
Bass took off at a run.  
"Bass, come back!" Proto yelled, knowing it was useless. That rebel wasn't going to listen to him. He turned to Rock. "C'mon, Rock, let's follow him."  
Taking another deep breath and shaking his head, Rock ran after the two, right into the mouth of the cave.  
  
Emerging from the jungle, X, Zero, and Blitz looked up at the massive cave entrance, cold air chilling their circuitry.  
"Well, guys, let's go," Zero said, heading off for the cave. Night had fallen, and the forest wasn't all that safe-looking. Hesitantly, X and Blitz followed him.  
The darkness of the place was alleviated by an adaption Blitz had made to his blaster to allow him to fire off light beams like his sister. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear the sound of metal chinking several hundred yards away, a marvel for the distance that was between them. He tried to keep a cool head, not to rush headlong into the shadows, but he felt the need to find out what it was. Zero, on the other hand, was more than ready to be attacked than simply discover the origin of the noises.  
"Prepare yourselves, guys," he kept reminding the others. "We may have to fight any minute now."  
"Uh, Zero, what's that?" X asked, pointing at a nearby rock face.  
"It's a wall."  
"No, not that. There seems to be an energy signal coming from behind it."  
Zero switched on his scanning equipment, and sure enough, there was a large signal coming from behind the cave wall. He stood next to it and attempted to push it out of the way. Instead, he fell right through.  
X and Blitz looked at each other in surprise. Naturally, X had seen invisible walls before, but they didn't expect that Zero would fall through one. Sticking their heads into the open space where a wall should have been, X and Blitz looked down at Zero.  
"Watch that first step! It's a doozie!" he yelled up to them, massaging the back of his head.  
Jumping down to join their partner, X and Blitz looked around.  
"So what's back here?" X asked, scratching his neck.  
Blitz used his light ray to trace the outline of a machine. "There's something over there. It's about ten feet tall."  
X and Zero walked over to what they now recognized as one of Dr. Light's transport capsules. Zero rolled his eyes.  
"These things are everywhere. What's next? Is one gonna magically appear in the HQ bathroom closet?"  
"Actually," X said. "I don't think Dr. Light would put one there."  
"It was a joke," the red Hunter replied in an annoyed monotone. "Just go ahead and find out what it's got in it."  
Walking up to the capsule, X prepared himself for another of his creators' equipment upgrade briefings. Just as he suspected, the blue glow coming from the border of the device disappeared and a hologram of Light materialized.  
"X," he said, scratching his head. "It's been awhile."  
To tell the truth, the blue robot wasn't used to Light's recent attempts to be funny, but he went along with it.  
"It sure has."  
"Alright. This capsule is for another armor. In fact, since the rest of the Hunters aren't here, I can't upgrade them yet. But I can take care of you also," he replied, noticing Zero.  
"This capsule contains the upgrade necessary to activate the Neuro Armor. This armor will help you with your new mission. Unfortunately, I believe that extended use of it may alter your systems somewhat, so I'd advise not equipping it for more than an hour's time. The boots are designed to allow your systems to instantly teleport several feet from your current position and work in conjunction with the chest armor, which traps your enemies in a storm of energy. The arm cannon can now fire a triple shot, and your helmet will be able to temporarily modify your body to perform an attack which I don't quite have a name for yet but I'm working on it."  
"That's a first," Zero muttered, imperceptible to the good doctor.  
"Okay. Anything else I need to know?" X asked.  
Light thought for a moment. "No, not at the moment. I have one thing to ask of you all, but that will have to wait until after you both receive the upgrade.  
Stepping inside the cylinder, X was caught up in an upward stream of armor-modifying energy that turned his blue skin white and created red and yellow crests from the center of his chest to his shoulders which ended in flares, a pair of large helmet sweep antennae that were also red and yellow, as well as leg and arm ornamentation that bore those colors. The spaces between the facets of the armor had changed to black. As the light faded, he could feel the immediate strength differences.  
Zero was next. As with the Hyper Armor, most of the enhancements were only slightly changed to accomodate the red robot. Notably, the fact his hair turned white, his chest nodes were replaced with a single centered crystal, and his boots had spikes running back from the blue and green seams that occupied the same places as the red and yellow on X's armor. His helmet was spiked as well, the entire base of it lined with the antenna-like protrusions.  
After both of them had stepped back from the transportation system, Light's hologram reappeared.  
"Zero, your Saber was integrated into your body for this upgrade. If you so choose, you can fire gyrating replicas of your saber that you can climb on if they hit a wall and stick. The ability to use the saber itself is entirely dependent on your energy generator, since it is wholly constructed of it now. It can take on several elemental properties automatically.  
"Now, X. My question to you."  
"What is it?"  
"Open the base of the capsule. You will find a small microchip."  
Doing as he was told, X unhatched the platform and looked at the circuitry. He pointed to a piece of machinery.  
"This one?"  
Light nodded. "Yes, X. That is the correct chip. Take it out of the board. It will come out easily, since it only snaps in. Then place it in your forehead install circuit."  
Removing the chip from the capsule made the hologram vanish. X was confused, looking at the tiny piece of metal.  
"What happened?"  
"Just put it in, X," Zero said.  
"Alright."  
Opening his helmet, X placed the circuit in his processor and adjusted the headpiece back into place. Immediately, Dr. Light showed up again.  
"What did I just do, Dr. Light?" X asked.  
"You removed my hologram chip from the transport system. All I ask you to do is to put that chip that you just placed in yourself into the main computer at Maverick Hunter Headquarters. I can do the rest from there."  
"But where are you coming from now?"  
Zero interrupted, pointing upward. "X, glance up without moving your head."  
Lifting his eyes, the blue robot could see Light's hologram was being projected from the crystal on his helmet.  
"Oh," he answered himself, laughing.  
The group exited the invisible room, re-entering the cave on their way to the Maverick base. 


End file.
